Legend of the Crimson Lucario
by The Shadow Master of Weapons
Summary: Summary inside. Rated M for Death, violence, adult themes, and Human X Pokemon sexually relationships. Knights, ninjas, demons, magic, love, and hatered are just a few of things found in this story.
1. Meeting an Ally

Summary: Riftwalkers, Crimson Warriors, The Chosen, whatever you call them, they are most powerful beings in existence. That does not mean however that they can't fail. Follow the story of Hellstorm, the next Riftwalker. He has already failed to save the planet once, but thanks to the pokemon gods, he was given a second chance. Now he must learn to master his gifts and save the world he knows, but he can't do it alone. Knights, ninjas, demons, magic, love, and hatered are just a few of things found in this story.

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'_Poketalk'_

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 1: Meeting an Ally

A single dark figure walked along the forest path. The cloak it wore covered most of its short body. It couldn't have stood more then four and half feet tall as it walked. There was no wind and the cloak lightly dragged on the ground behind the figure. The only light came from the full moon. Its silver light lit up the area well as the forest canopy barely covered the path that went through it. The lone figure walked on showing no signs of stopping. The hood of its cloak concealed the wearer's face well. The person, whoever he or she was walked on almost like a ghost making no sounds as they walked. Up ahead was the first town for a long ways. The stone buildings were barely lit by the moon, but the city's wooden walls were clearly seen. The port is the city was quite calm and there were no ships visible for now. The figure walked along unaware of those that followed them.

In the trees along side the path, several bandits laid in wait for the right moment to strike. Each one wore light leather armor and carried a small weapon like a knife or a club. Thinking this would be an easy target, they waited until they got to a clearing before waking out of the trees. The figure stopped and looked around slowly, its hood turning with its head making it impossible for thieves to see who they were robbing.

"I'll make this easy. There are many of us and just one of you. Give up whatever valuables you got and we won't hurt you." The bandit leader stepped forward. The cloaked figure turned to face him. The bandit leader was still young, maybe in their early twenties. He had long dark hair and red eyes. A smile was firmly placed across his face. He wore simple armor meant for movement rather then real defense, not to say that the armor couldn't take a few hits. On his belt was a long skinny blade, very thin and flexible.

"You wouldn't hurt me would you?" the figure asked in a female voice.

"Would you listen to that. I think we might have a real prize here boys." The leader shouted at which the bandits all whistled. "So what is a young gal like yourself doing out at this hour?" He slowly approached the figure. Beneath the hood, the figure slowly picked up a grin on its snout, although the bandit couldn't see it.

"Nothing much, just walking to the next town." The figure replied in the same innocent female voice as before.

The bandit leader was now within reach of the figure and he slowly removed his rapier. He gently lifted up the hood to see something far from what he had thought he had found. The blue and black head of the jackal known as a Lucario was revealed in the bright moonlight as the hood was lifted. The jackal had a large grin on his face showing his front most set of long crimson fangs. A single circular crimson gemstone grew out of its head just above its large silver eyes.

"Now what is this?" the bandit leader asked. "What are you, some kind of witch?"

"No. I'm so much more." The Lucario replied with a slightly deep, male voice this time.

"Worthless beast. I'll teach you to mess with me." The bandit leader drew his blade back and thrust it forward. Before he had time to react, the Lucario had countered throwing his open palm into the chest of the bandit leader. The bandit leader was thrown back a few feet, but still remained standing. The Lucario's hand was back in the cloak before anyone could register what had happened; his now crimson eyes reflected the moonlight brightly adding a crimson glow to the light that they reflected.

"Boss." Many of the bandits looked at the Lucario before them. Other then the grin on his face, there were no signs to show what emotion if any he was feeling.

"Let me make this quick." The Lucario pulled out a small sack from under his cloak. "I'm almost out of gold. And looking at your belts, I see that you have plenty. Give me thirty gold coins and I'll let you live without as much as a scratch given to you." The Lucario looked around. "That's a fair price to ask in return for attacking me like that."

A few of the bandits just looked at the Pokemon like he was crazy. The Lucario just sighed.

"The first one of you to attack me as of now will lose their entire purse and possibly a hand." The Lucario threatened. "Any further attacks made against me will result in the loss of more gold and several broken limbs." One of the bandits stepped forward.

"Let me handle him boss." The bandit asked.

"If you're going to fight then let me show you what you'll be fighting against." The Lucario raised one open hand outward, the crimson spike on his wrist started glowing as a large red orb of energy gathered in front of his hand. The Lucario fired the attack, a small crimson aura sphere toward a tree, which nearly splintered the entire trunk of the tree on impact. "I'll not hold back if any of you attack me." The bandits looked at the tree. The leader smiled.

"Boys, take him alive. This beast will fetch a handsome price at any beast auction." The bandit leader shouted.

"Have it your way, just remember. I gave you a chance." The Lucario stood in the middle of the ring of fourteen bandits as they slowly closed in around him.

"Demon Art: Violent Cyclone." The Lucario said with a very calm relaxed voice. These words seemed like meaningless gibberish at first and bandits laughed making sarcastic comments about the fact that the Lucario thought it was a demon. That is until the wind picked up. The wind came in from all directions circling the Lucario, although his cloak was unmoved by the wind. The winds continued to collect around the Lucario as his blue skin slowly changed color. By the time in which the winds were finished collecting around the Lucario, his skin that had once been blue now matched his wrist spike and the gemstone a top his forehead.

"Release." This one word was all it took to set loose the wind that had gathered around him. It looked like a wave of dust because of all the dust and dirt that the winds had picked up off of the ground whilst gathering around the Lucario. The wave of wind flew outward and as it passed the bandits, it dealt savage, but non-lethal blows to them cutting them in several areas across their body as well as removing several moneybag from the belts of those who had tried to capture the Lucario. Just as fast as it had happened, the winds died down leaving a once again blue Lucario standing in the middle of a ring of bandits.

"Have you had enough or shall I show you more of my powers." The Lucario asked. "My name is Hellstorm for a reason. Your lucky I have developed some control over my own power… otherwise many of you could be dead right now."

"Let's get out of here." The bandit leader shouted. All at once, all of the bandits turned and high tailed it out of the clearing.

The Lucario returned his hood to its upright position that covered his face whispering a slient spell. He started walking as the moneybag suddenly flew toward him. The Lucario took a few coins from each bag until his own moneybag had a fair deal of gold, silver, and bronze in it. He tied up the rest of the bags and put them all on his belt. However, he only tied his own money to the right side of his belt and tied the rest to the left side. "The next city will be quite happy to receive such a generous gift for the hospital, church and orphanage." The Lucario walked on once again. He would make it to the city below by dawn if he kept up his current pace.

xXx

The rest of the night proved calm and relaxing even with the howls of the nocturnal pokemon. As he neared the town, he very quietly chanted a spell. Removing his hood, he looked down into the calm stream that the bridge he was on was crossing. He looked down and smiled. His spell had worked for now. Instead of a Lucario looking down into the water, there was the head of young man, maybe nineteen or possibly twenty. He had dark black hair, but his eyes remained the same silver color they were. He walked up to gate to the city.

The wooden walls weren't meant to keep out invading armies as this was large trade city most likely watched by whoever owned the large mansion on the nearby hill. These walls were meant to keep out wild Pokemon and other such things that could affect the dialy lives of those within. The mansion probably belonged to a knight or noble family, which could hire some muscle to keep watch over the city.

"May I help you sir?" A guard asked as the Lucario disguised as a human walked up. The guard wore light plate armor and held a long spear with a rounded hooked blade at the end.

"I'm just passing through." The Lucario said as he walked closer.

"Might I ask for some identification please? There have been rumors of bandits in the area." The guard asked.

"Those bandits you spoke of attacked me last night. While I fought them off, one of them must have made off with my moneybag that held my papers. I managed to snag a few of their moneybags though so I managed to keep a fair some of money and then some." The Lucario replied.

The guard thought it over for a seconds before replying. "Oh very well, go on. You don't look like the troublesome type."

"I do have one question. Are there any rules for casters in this city?" The Lucario asked.

"Just don't go causing mischief with what magic you know. We're a simple trade town and we don't want trouble." The guard replied.

The Lucario walked into the city and returned his hood to its resting spot above his head. As he walked several merchants had tried to get his attention and did their best to get him to come and look at their stalls in the market square. Finally, something caught his eye, or his nose to be more precise. The sweet aroma of meat roasting in a sweet sauce caught his attention as he looked around to find the source. Ever since Hellstorm had come to whatever time he was in, he was always surprised to see just how many different foods there and how many different ways there were to cook them.

In the world Hellstorm grew up in, Earth only had two major landmasses, both of which were harsh deserts. He lived under a forty-three hour day, which made the current twenty-four hour one he was currently living in real easy to live by. The cooler climate was also much better then the hot dry heat of the desert. Also notable was the fact that he was no never at a loss for food. However, just as there were benefits to what time he now lived in, there were also drawbacks. In his time, it was common for humans and Pokemon to work and live hand in hand under the command of a single alpha whose word was law. In this time, most humans of whatever kingdom he was in treated Pokemon as nothing more then slaves or beasts to command. There were exceptions, but not many. A Lucario of his intelligence was unheard of and he knew he had to be careful not to let too many learn of his blood. What made it even more crucial that he hide his identity was the fact that he could use both magic and demon arts, something that was thought impossible and forbidden for Pokemon to learn. Hellstorm was unsure if he had gone back in time or been pushed into the future. Either way, it was a time of knights and ninjas, magic and demons. Some thing one would read out of some fairy tale or adventure book.

Hellstorm looked around some more before he finally found the source of the smell that had attracted him. He drew back his hood once more to reveal the same human head as earlier. "I'd like a small order of that wondrous meat that I smell please." Hellstorm pointed to large rack of meat that was cooking over a large fire in the back of the restaurant that he had entered.

"Take a seat and I'll be right out with some of that steak. Would you like a drink to go with it?" The waitress asked, her simple serving clothing gave her some room to twist and turn, but closely hugged her body. She was still young and flat for the most, but Hellstorm swore he saw a girl from his time when looking at her.

"I'll take something light, nothing that may affect my thinking later on. I do have some work that needs to be done." Hellstorm said.

"I know just the thing. We just got a shipment of herbal teas in this morning. I'll make some up then." The waitress heading into the back and began to make the tea while Hellstorm found a small table close to the back in a corner.

The waitress came out a few seconds later with a large cup of tea and a small portion of the steak that had brought Hellstorm to the restaurant in the first place. Hellstorm looked at waitress for a second and realized that while she may have looked like his childhood friend, she was not.

"Thank you very much. How much for the meal?" Hellstorm asked.

"Thirty-eight bronze coins please." She responded.

"Here ya go." Hellstorm dug out some coins and handed them to the girl. Thanks to the spell he had cast earlier, his entire body looked human. Hellstorm ate slowly making sure to savor each and every bite. Never before had he tasted something so good. He drank his tea slowly before leaving.

On his way out, noticed someone following him. He made his twisting and turning through the crowds as he put his hood back up. Who ever was following him was not going to give up easily. Hellstorm made a quick turn down an empty ally way. He felt who ever was following him do the same. He made a quick turn down a dead end and jumped up high onto the roof of the buildings that had made up the walls of the alley. He looked down to see lone figure walk down the same dead end he had turned into. The figure was cloaked much like he was, but Hellstorm's cloak was much simpler. Whoever this mysterious person was, they had a fancy black and red cloak and stood at least a foot taller then Hellstorm. Hellstorm jumped down without making a sound. The figure turned to leave but found Hellstorm blocking them in.

"For what purpose did you follow me?" Hellstorm asked his hood rose over his head even though he had taken a human's appearance.

"You're a hard person to track down. I see why, caster." The figure replied. "I was told to personally follow you and give you an invite to the manor on the hill."

"And why should I answer anyone's summons?" Hellstorm asked.

"Because my master knows what you are and merely wishes to talk. Besides, I could just go tell the city guard that a wild Pokemon with magic has been let into the city." The figure threatened.

"Very well. If all they want to do is talk, then we shall talk. However, should you try to kill me, and then you'll learn just how much magic I have mastered." Hellstorm kept his voice calm even though the man had just threatened him.

--

It was a short walk up to the mansion. The cloaked man led Hellstorm around to the back door rather then the front. The mansion was huge, belonging to a very rich family. The halls were decorated with several paintings of the king and queen of the land. There was also many well built replica blades and axes on the walls.

"Who owns this estate?" Hellstorm asked.

"Her title is Princess Ruby. She never did like the whole life of a princess and convinced her parents to build her this estate and since then, she had watched over this town." The cloaked man replied. The cloaked man led Hellstorm to the inner courtyard. There was a single woman in the area, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. She had dark brown hair and ruby eyes. She wore a simple suit made for training. Something that would durable and wasn't hard to replace or wash.

"So this is Hellstorm. You've made quite a reputation for yourself in this kingdom." The woman bowed her head in respect, her voice was kind and somewhat low, but Hellstorm's hearing more then made up for her low tone. "However, I don't think many would be so kind if they knew what you were. I am Ruby and I happen to see Pokemon as more then beasts, if only others shared my views."

"Why have you summoned me?" Hellstorm asked, never taking down his hood.

"Because I have something you may want." Ruby walked over to a small chest that lay on a simple wooden table. She opened the chest and pulled out a single small blue orb. It looked like there was whirlpool inside the blue orb, the water seemingly trying to break out, but never able to. "The element orb of water. I've done some research and every time one of your kind has showed up, the seventeen elemental orbs also seem to show up as well." Ruby held the orb up for Hellstorm to see.

"It appears you have the advantage here. You seem to know a lot about me and I know very little about you." Hellstorm said his voice calm.

"Now, I could keep this orb and have almost total control over water, but I want something else." Ruby said raising her voice bit making sure that Hellstorm would hear her. "There have been reports of a few wild Pokemon in the area that having been causing some major trouble for the near by villages that are under my protection. I have this feeling however that whatever is attacking the villages is not a Pokemon."

"Then what do you think it is?" Hellstorm asked.

"My money is on a golem or a demon. I've seen the damage myself. One whole town was almost completely destroyed." Ruby explained. "I've already hired a wizard, but no one has seen him for a few days. I fear he may never return."

"I'll need a blade. The first rule when dealing with demons is deception." Hellstorm stated. "Preferably some sort Viper's Wraith if you have one. I hear it's the preferred weapon of many ninjas of the east."

"The Viper's Wraith. At first glance nothing more then thick heavy blade, but it hides its true power. The blade is built in segments and houses a long cord like a whip. Quite the exotic weapon of choice." Ruby commented. "While I don't have the Viper's Wraith, I do have a similar blade. It's not quite as deadly as the segments are not hooked like the Viper's Wraith, but it is slightly longer and has an additional two segments. It was gift from the king of Lunastrain and is called the Whistling Blade."

"I've never heard of this Lunastrain." Hellstorm said.

"To many, it is known as the Southern Kingdom. Very few take the time to learn about it unless they plan on going there, but the land is nothing more then a giant desert. Very few ever go out that way though." Ruby was no doubt well informed about the neighboring kingdoms. According to the man who had brought him here, she was a princess after all.

"If I may, I will return to duties of watching over the town." The cloaked figure turned and walked off.

"Come inside. I'll fill you in on what I know of the attacks." Ruby motioned for Hellstorm to follow her.

Ruby led Hellstorm to a large living area. A single very large and well decorated Granite Fireplace stood on the wall. A few candles and the open windows provided light to the room. "Anna, where are you?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, Ruby?" A female voice rang out from down the hall. Hellstorm expecting human was slightly surprised to see a Kirlia walk in.

"Whoever cast the spell upon your Pokemon did a very good job. Her speech would appear flawless." Hellstorm commented.

"Thank you, but only part of her ability to talk is magic. Magic was used to grant her the ability to speak, but she had to learn it like any other human." Ruby explained.

"I see." Hellstorm remained standing even after Ruby took a seat on the large couch that sat in the center of the room.

"Please go fetch some tea for me and my guest." Ruby asked kindly.

"Of course." The little Kirlia bowed and walked off.

"I have a total of fourteen servants here. Five of them are human and the rest are Pokemon." Ruby explained. "Now then about the damage I was to tell you about. Many of the buildings were burned; even the stone buildings had obvious marks that they had come in contact with fire."

"Any number of fire Pokemon who trained themselves greatly could have done that." Hellstorm argued.

"But how many can also freeze bodies solid?" Ruby continued. "We found many of the dead frozen solid even though the areas that had been attacked were burned. We tried to thaw the ice, but the clear ice turned black as we melted it."

"That's not something any Pokemon could do. This does sound like a demon." Hellstorm said.

"I believe this creature is hiding in the woods outside the temple to the east. The temple was abandoned long ago when spirits started to haunt the temple." Ruby explained.

"Very well, give the sword you said I could use and I will dispose of this creature who haunts your land." Hellstorm said.

"You may wish to use this time to rest up. It only attacks at night." Ruby said.

"How far is it?" Hellstorm asked.

"A few hours as the Rapidash ride… or an hour by wings of a Pidgeot." Ruby answered kindly. "And as it just so happens, I do have a Pidgeot as a servant here. She'll gladly take you there if I ask her to."

"In that case, I shall use this time to relax." Hellstorm said he took a seat on one of the chairs across from Ruby. Anna walked back in a few second later carrying a tray with a finely crafted silver tea pot and two small tea cups, all three of which had a lovely rose pattern etched into them.

"So, since we are waiting for night to fall, tell me about yourself." Ruby inquired. "What I know to be fact is that you are a Riftwalker or are working to become one, thus you are not human. I do not however know what species you are."

"What does it matter Ruby? I won't be staying here for long." Hellstorm replied.

"I was hoping you would. I have some power as a princess and can pull some strings to help you if you need it." Ruby told Hellstorm before slowly sipping her tea.

"Why would you help me?" The cup Hellstorm had been given slowly lifted up off the table and floated to his hood.

"I've grown to like the reputation that you've made for yourself, but unlike others, I know all to well that if the people found out what you are, they would greet you with hostility claiming that you were posing as this Hellstorm." Ruby put her cup down. "You see, the people know that they are not to refer to my Pokemon servants as beasts. As for you, you serve no master and they would see you as a wild beast only bent on taking what is not yours."

"Am I to understand that you have developed feelings for me?" Hellstorm asked as an empty tea cup left the confines of his hood and was gently set back down on the table by some invisible hand.

"To put it simply, I have feeling for the one the people call Hellstorm. I now want to see if the Pokemon who has created the name is worthy of my love just as the one from the stories is so to speak." Ruby explained.

"You would be the first to make any mention of any such feeling towards me knowing what I am." Hellstorm replied. "Perhaps, I may stay a while. It would be nice to stay somewhere and relax rather then constantly stay on the move."

"Since you will be staying, there is no need to hide your true form here. Please, allow me to take your cloak and have it washed." Ruby got up and walked to Hellstorm.

"There is no need for that." Hellstorm stood up as a light wind blew in the room as Hellstorm took off his hood. The end of the cloak slowly rolled up into the rest of the cloak until there was barely anything left other then a triangular cloak that barely came down to his waist. It was a very simple cloak unlike the one Hellstorm had just been wearing. This new cloak looked like nothing more then a single piece of cloth that had been cut to shape and simple left to hung on his back.

Ruby looked on at her guest. The light blue and black jackal stood quietly, his eyes only coming up to her mouth.

"A Lucario. That's a rare sight around these parts." Ruby stated as she walked around her guest taking note of his crimson spikes as well as the two gemstones embedded in his skin. The first was just above his eyes whilst the second was just barely showing above the cloak on his back. The gemstone was positioned at the base of the back of his neck. Both of them looked much like the gemstones that all Espeon's had, small and round and not very big. The skin just barely grew over the stones on his body. "You really are a on your way to becoming a Crimson Warrior."

"That I am. So, since you seem to know a lot about me, why don't you tell me about yourself and your life here? It is only fair if I am to be staying here." Hellstorm commented.

"As you wish. As my servant has no doubt told you, I am princess Ruby of the Jetek Kingdom. I was never too happy with that life as seeing how I was not next in line, and my brother convinced my parents to build my this manor and let me watch over this city and the neighboring villages. The servant I sent out to get you was one of my tow bodyguards. You'll have to forgive Victor for his methods, but he only means well.' Ruby began. "It was Victor himself who over saw the construction of this manor and my passage to it. I started off with six servants on my way here. There was Becky, a Lapras who often watches over the harbor. Next up is Justin Myers, my second body guard, he is well skilled in the arts of magic, but not as open minded as myself still believing that Pokemon are mindless beasts. Then there was Anna, she was a Ralts and my childhood friend. As you saw before, she has now evolved into a Kirlia. It was her idea to help around the house and she can be a bit formal at times. Then there is my cook, a human by the name of Maria. She is quite kind and prepares all of the meals here at the manor. Then there is my mount a Rapidash called Joey. He is always willing to carry wherever my heart so desires. And of course there is Victor." Ruby explained.

"You must have picked up some more servants since then because I recall you saying that you had fourteen servants." Hellstorm refilled his cup of tea, but rather then use magic like he had earlier with his cup, he now used his paws.

"That I have. Since my arrival, I have picked up eight more servants. There are the maids Julie and June. They are sisters, both them being Roserade. The way to tell them a part is that fact that Julie has red eyes and June had blue eyes. The next person who I picked up was wound Mightyena by the name Ralph. He decided to serve as the night watchman to thank me for taking him in. Then I found hired Austin for a few weeks as a Gardner. He performs his duties well and has a very green thumb. I've liked his work so much, that I got him a house down in the city since he didn't seem to like the idea of staying here for some reason. No more than a week after I had Austin moved into the village, I found Kelley, a Glaceon that had been left out in the wood to die, abandoned by her previous owner. She has taken over keeping our food supplies cold and preserved. About a year later, I found need of carpenter to fix the manor." Hellstorm just sat as listened. "I found Eric, a young boy in his late teens to take the job. He combined magic with craftsmanship and quickly repaired the house. Now, he maintains the houses in the city and my manor as well as helps to repair the broken tools and weapons in the city. His sister, Amy helps him most of the time. Then there was Heather, a young Pidgey that had strayed to far from the pack she was with. She opted to help deliver messages and quickly grew into the Pidgeot she is today. Finally, about a year ago, I discovered an egg that hatched into a Vulpix. Fefnir now keeps the house well heated in the winter months. I was surprised how quickly he became a Ninetails however. On a side note, I have used magic to help all of my Pokemon here to speak English."

Ruby gave the quick story about how she had gathered up her servants and arranged for them all to either live in the city or live at the manor. The full story would have taken much longer. Hellstorm looked out the window. Ruby looked as well. "It is almost time for you to leave for your hunt then." Ruby got up and walked over to a near by weapons rack that had been placed above the fireplace. She took the top most weapon, a light wide blade about two feet in length. "This is the Whistling Blade." Ruby gently handed the weapon to Hellstorm.

Hellstorm took the weapon and held it lightly examining the weapon. "This will do fine." Hellstorm said as took the grip and light squeezed the end of the handle. The blade seemed to fall apart some bending over toward the ground. The more pressure Hellstorm applied to the end of the handle, the more slack he had until there was at least eight feet of cord between the tip the tip and hilt of the blade. Hellstorm release the pressure he had applied to the handle of the blade and the blade returned to its normal shape. "I take that back. This will be almost perfect. You do understand that if there are demons out there, this blade may not find its way back here." Hellstorm explained.

"I understand that fact. I can always have another one built by Eric. He is quite good with his craftsmanship." Ruby said. "Come; let me take you to Heather. She will gladly take you to the temple before the sun has completely set."

"Very well. I'll dispose of this Demon and be back here by dawn." Hellstorm said as Ruby led him to the stable out back. There in a large nest made of stray and grass, was a large bird. Her brilliant silver tail feathers elegantly complemented the white feathers of her wings.

"Lady Ruby." Heather bowed her head.

"There is no need to be formal, we are all equals here." Ruby said her voice still low. "I would like to ask a favor of you. Hellstorm here has volunteered to check out the area near the temple and look for the beast that has attacked the villages under my protection. Please fly him there before the sun has set that way he may have the upper hand if he finds something."

"Of course I'll take him. Let us hope that you fair much better then the wizard who set out days ago." Heather said as she slowly walked out of the enclosed stable. She kneeled down so that Hellstorm could climb aboard her. "Hang on tight. This is going to be a fast ride." With one mighty flap of her wings, the large bird went up several feet off the ground. "Here we go." With another mighty flap, the two took off at high speeds into the darkening sky.

xXx

It was short one hour flight over to the ruined temple just as Ruby said it would be. The temple was an old stone, built of large blocks that had been carved to fit into each other. Many old runes were also carved into the building, but they were all but faded away. Only the deepest of the deepest runes that had been carved into the building remain and they were still hard to see because of the amount of vines and moss that now grew on the stone edifice. Heather set down on top of the large building and allowed Hellstorm to disembark. "Shall I wait here for your return?" Heather asked.

"I would not suggest staying on the ground. Quickly move to the sky if you hear anything. Also, don't come flying back down just because you see me. I'll tell you if it is ok to land or not when I return." Hellstorm explained as he landed. A light wind picked as a large number of threads flew out of Hellstorm's triangular cloak and wove its self back into the original cloak that Hellstorm had. Hellstorm kept the blade in his hand as the cloak once again covered him from head to toe. He walked over to edge of the roof and jumped down the ground without even making a sound. He then walked off into the forest just as the last rays of sunlight began to fade. Only the moon would light the sky tonight as long as skies were clear.

Hellstorm had only been for a few minutes and he could already feel the presence of some unknown force. He could the air around grow cold as he walked even through his heavy cloak. He walked into a clearing a few acres from the temple. The force Hellstorm was feeling was strongest here meaning that whatever was causing the trouble was near by. A voice rang out from all directions at once confirming Hellstorm's suspicions.

"An Etherian Cloak. Now that is quite the treasure." The voice was loud and vibrated somewhat showing just how deep it was.

"I've come to deal with whatever manner of monster that has been attacking the nearby villages. If you're not the creature I'm looking for, leave and I'll ignore ever coming in contact with you." Hellstorm shouted out.

"You must be joking. First they send a wizard and now a hunter." The voice rang out again as it laughed. "I'm a demon and will do as I please. Now then, tell me. Where did you get that cloak? Such an item would help me greatly with my next feeding."

"The cloak is mine and so is your life since you admit to being the monster that has attacked the villages." Hellstorm focused on the voice and soon found the source.

"Demon Art: Crater Blade." With one sudden movement, Hellstorm leapt into the air. The cloak fluttered around him only allowing his one hand, the one with which Hellstorm held his blade to fly outside of the confines of the cloak. Hellstorm brought the long blade slicing through branches and leaves before colliding with the ground. The ground caved under the force of the blow and a fair sized crater was formed. The dark shadowy figure that had been standing where Hellstorm had just landed looked on in awe. For something other then a Demon to use a Demon Art was quite impressive.

"I am quite impressed." The voice rang out again, but this time it was the gentle voice of young female.

"What are you? Show yourself." Hellstorm demanded. Slowly, the dark figure emerged from the shadows of the forest. At first, it had appeared to be young woman, her eyes gentle and caring. She had a warm slime on her face and her blue eyes showed no signs of harm. She wore a simple top, nothing too fancy. The top was made of a blue linen cloth and would be easy to mend or if need be replace. Hellstorm lowered his gaze slightly to identify a shiny object on the woman's belt and instantly was able to identify the demon. "I hate lamia." Hellstorm muttered to himself.

From the waist down, the woman had a very large scaled tail instead of legs. There was no doubt she was the half human half snake demon alright. Most of her tail was still hidden in the trees.

"I'm quite impressed. Few mortals can master the arts of demons." The demon used her human voice rather then her demon one like before.

"Stop the attacks on the villages and return to your world demon." Hellstorm once again return the blade to its resting place by his side beneath the cloak.

"I have a better idea. I'm still looking for a mate and one such as your self would surely make a great father to my children." The demon slowly slithered out of the forest into the clearing a bit more.

"I've no interest in mating you or any demon. I've no care for such things." Hellstorm said.

"Really? How could you deny a lady like me?" the Lamia asked seductively. She slowly inched toward Hellstorm. "Come on, show me your face. With powers like that, I bet you're handsome." Hellstorm's hood slowly lifted over his head by some unknown force, but Hellstorm didn't bother stopping it. "You really are cute especially for your species." The Lamia went to run a finger along his chin only to have Hellstorm jump back several feet.

"I told you. I care nothing for love or mating. I have a mission and I intend to complete that mission." Hellstorm's cloak slowly began to unweave itself into a long thin cloak that only covered his back much like the cloak of knight. The Lamia looked on and giggled.

"You strong. I can see the blood flowing through you. Everything about looks strong to me. Your soul, your mind, and most of all your spirit. I'm really going to enjoy you." The Lamia said as she slowly slithered toward Hellstorm.

"Let me make this simple. Run back to your world and live or die by my hand." Hellstorm lifted his hand pointed his blade toward the demon.

"Now we can't have that. If you won't give a child willingly, then I'll just have to change your mind." The Lamia said as she charged forward. An orb of black fire appeared in one hand and an orb of black ice appeared in her other hand. "Demon Art: Fire and Ice." She screamed. She flung her hands forward as the two orbs took flight. Hellstorm jumped over the two incoming orbs and squeezed the handle to his blade. The blade bent over and tightened his grip until he flung the whip like weapon out toward his foe. The weapon wrapped around the Lamia's hands as Hellstorm landed on his feet. "Aw, looks like you caught me." The Lamia was enjoying this battle.

"I'm sorry, but you don't leave me much choice. Leave this world and return to your own or I'll kill you here and now." Hellstorm had a calm look on his face. To him, this battle was his. However, the Lamia had other plans, her scalely tail was still out of Hellstorm's sight and unbeknownst to him was the fact that not all Lamia were created equal. Some had very, very long tails with an actually snake's head on them. There was slight rustling in the tree behind Hellstorm and before he could act a large cobra like green snake's head and grabbed him around the chest. The head lifted Hellstorm up and threw him hard into a near by try. The Lamia freed her hands and slightly over to the disoriented Hellstorm was just barely standing.

"Here, sleep." The Lamia placed a kiss on Hellstorm's lips and he instantly fell tired. He looked up one last time before falling unconscious. "We'll have some real fun later."

Heather was still resting at the temple. "I wonder if he's ok?"


	2. The Gap Between Time

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'_Poketalk'_

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 2: The Gap Between Time

A small device starting beeping on Hellstorm's wrist in a constant set of three quick beeps followed by a pause. The device was a small blue wristwatch that Hellstorm had brought back with him though time and thankfully, most who saw it mistook it for a wizardry bracelet of some kind. It was the only reminder of his mother that he had left. He lay with his hands tied up along side of some sort of stone wall with his cloak laying a few feet from him. Hellstorm slowly opened his eyes. It was dark out, but there was some light. A large fire in the center of the room heated the area, but did not seem to give off much light. "I'm up." Hellstorm was still quite out of it. Hellstorm went to move his arms, but could not. "Huh?" Hellstorm looked around. His vision was blurred.

"My, my, you certainly woke up quickly. I've been forced to deal with many males like that before, but they normally took all night to wake up." A female voice sounded out.

"Where am I?" Hellstorm asked completely forgetting how he had gotten into this mess.

"She must have really hit you hard." The voice called out.

"That you ya old witch?" Hellstorm asked.

"Old witch?" The voice pouted playfully. "I'll have you know I'm still very young by demon standards."

"Just tell me where I am?" Hellstorm asked while yawning, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

"You're in my little den." The voice called drawing closer. Hellstorm looked down seeing that his feet were chained up and his pants were missing revealing the dark fur that they hid along with the sheath that housed his sex organ, but he was still too out of it to realize what was going on. The device on his arm was still beeping. "And what is with that sound?" A dark figure slowly slithered forward. The Lamia showed herself in the dim light, her green tail scales seemingly giving off a minor glow of their own in the dim light. Tossing some sort of bottle onto the flames, the entire room lit up as the flames roared to life. The Lamia held The Whistling Blade in her left hand. Her long blonde hair sparkled in the light like it was a little wet. She slid the blade behind Hellstorm and removed the wristwatch. "Such a pretty bracelet, but why does it make noise?" She asked.

"That's how I keep track of time." Hellstorm was slowly gaining a hold on the real world. His vision no longer blurred; he took a good look around. He was is some sort of old stone room, something that had at one point been used by holy men as there were still some old remains of crosses embedded in the walls. On the wall to his left was a large doorway, more then big enough to allow the Lamia to enter and exit the room comfortably. On the wall to his right, Hellstorm saw a man chained to a wall. He was badly beaten, but not so far that he would die. Most of his robe had been shredded. This must have been the wizard that Ruby had sent out a few days ago. "That noise tells me when should start looking for someplace to rest, but seeing as how I already got some sleep, it's telling me to wake up."

"How do you shut it up." The Lamia asked as she poked it with the blade she had.

"Free my arms and I'll show you." Hellstorm replied.

"I have a better idea." The Lamia raised the wristwatch up and with one quick flick of her wrist, flung the device out of the room they were in. Hellstorm wasn't too worried, once he was free he could go retrieve his mother's gift. For now, he had to worry about the Lamia. "Do you know why female demons are so picky about our mates?" She asked slowly removing her shirt. Her large breasts bounced freely without the shirt to hold them.

"Tell me." Hellstorm stalled for time as he began to collect energy knowing that his demon arts were useless here. With those crosses still embedded in the walls of the room, his magic would also be compromised. No doubt they had been left up on purpose to help control prisoners of the demon before him.

"We female demons can only give birth to so many demonic children. That is why we choose our mates carefully. And you… you will be the father to my first child. I've always had a thing for canine Pokemon and demons. I don't know why, I just do. You should consider yourself lucky as my sister let me have you first." The Lamia explained setting the blade down as she slithered over to Hellstorm.

"I thought I told you I care nothing for mating or love. I have a mission that needs to be done." Hellstorm objected. Hellstorm was finally able to see the full length of the snake that had captured him. Her tail must have been at least twenty feet long and had a snake's head like that of a Arbok, its hood was folded up nicely.

"You really don't want me. Well, let me change your mind." She said rubbing her hand against his face. Hellstorm jerked his head away. Slowly, her other arm went for his sheath that carried her prize. She rubbed it gently hoping to get some sort of reaction out of Hellstorm. "Come on Hellstorm. You might as well enjoy this too." She slowly began to rub a bit harder trying to coax his member out of hiding. Hellstorm just smiled.

"You never get want you want from me. Like I said, I care nothing for such things, demon." Hellstorm laughed.

"My name is Akara, not demon. And I can change that." She said as she held Hellstorm's face with her free hand. She gently placed a kiss on his snout, a light blue mist coming from her breath. The mist was very sweet and for most, it was intoxicating giving a feeling of lust to those who inhaled it. However for Hellstorm, it was just a nuisance more then anything. It did mess with his head a bit, but he had cast off love long ago back when his pack was slain by demons.

Now he cared nothing for love, he was on a mission. A mission to collect the seventeen elemental orbs of power and correct the mistake he made in his time.

Try as she might, Akara could not get Hellstorm's member to come out.

"I just realized that your tail seems a bit short. Was there another with you back in the forest?" Hellstorm asked.

"Yes, my sister was there. She's most likely out hunting right now." Akara said. She grew tired of trying to coax Hellstorm into a state of arousal. "Every human and Pokemon I've met would have given in by now. How is that you can resist me for this long?" Akara asked.

"Because, I've been busy collecting energy." Hellstorm closed his eyes for a second and then reopened them. Instead of the bright silver eyes he had before, his eyes once again matched his spikes and gemstones. Laughing, he called out his next attack. "Blast Wave." His entire went red like the evening sun and began to glow. Akara slithered into the hallway just in time to avoid the explosive attack that shook the building. Smoke slowly exited the room.

When Akara entered, she found that Hellstorm was free. He was a bit shaky and leaded against the wall, but he was free. The chains and rope that had once bound him were nothing more then shreds of what they used to be. Hellstorm picked up his cloak and found his blue shorts lying down underneath the cloak. He put them back on and began to put on the cloak when he heard the sounds of cracking stone.

Looking up, he realized just how big a mistake he had made. "Shit." Hellstorm made a mad dash for the hall, but the entire structure he was in had been affected by his attack. The cracking stone ceiling was already starting to fall in some places. Hellstorm and the Akara where back to back as they were trapped by the falling debris.

Then there was a sudden flash of green light as the two figures vanished just before the ceiling had collapsed on them.

xXx

Hellstorm and Akara woke up slowly in a cold, empty place. There was a stone floor, but nothing else. The only light came for Hellstorm. His three crimson spikes and the two gemstones in his skin gave a blood red light, lighting up the area around the two figures. Hellstorm jumped to his feet. He only heard Akara in the area, but other then her, there was nothing. Just nothing. "Where did you take you us demon?" Hellstorm asked. His cloak was no where to be seen. "And where's my watch?" Hellstorm held out his hand as if she still had it. The seemingly impossible happened as Hellstorm's prized possession seemed to just fall from the sky right into his hand. It looked just like before, almost new. He quickly put it on so he wouldn't lose here, wherever here was.

"What are you talking about?" Akara used her arms to support herself. She seemed to be affected by the sudden displacement that the two had just suffered from. "You're the one who brought us here." She said weakly.

"This wasn't my doing. I may be powerful, but this is beyond my skill." Hellstorm countered. He seemed to have the upper hand here. She was weak, but he seemed to be in near perfect condition despite his blast wave attack.

All though Blast Wave was a self-destruct type of attack, it was no where near as powerful in terms of damage, but it's area of effect and violent affect on stone and metals made it just as good. The user often suffered from minor physical weakness and some minor injuries after the use of it, but Hellstorm seemed well enough. He knew better then to question times like these.

"I'm a demon of seduction and lesser magic. I can only teleport back to demon world." Akara slowly stood herself up. She had forgotten her shirt and wrapped her arms around herself. "And I can assure you this is not the demon world."

"Then where the hell are we?" Hellstorm demanded.

"I don't know, you brought us here." Akara shouted.

"Since it seems we have no idea where we are, I call a truce. Once we get out of here, then we can settle our differences." Hellstorm shouted.

"Fair enough." Akara began looking around. "There has to be some way out of here."

"Come on, let's start looking." Hellstorm started walking out is a random direction. I can't believe I have to work with this demon after the stunt she pulled. Hellstorm thought to himself.

Hellstorm walked on with Akara slithering right behind him. She held herself tightly trying to ignore the cold. Even Hellstorm had started to feel the effects of the cold. His walking pace and breathing slowed, and he body had started to go numb.

Unlike Lucario of this time, Hellstorm had developed a few new weakness and strengths from living in his time. Even though he was a steel-type, he had developed a considerable resistance to fire and acids. Many of the species of his time had developed this same resistance, but all of them also developed a similar weakness. He had a raised core temp compared to other Lucario of this time and thus, picked up a weakness to the cold. Two of the few things that could take him down easily were powerful ice-type attacks and extended exposure to the cold.

Hellstorm was slowly losing his advantage over the Lamia companion he had. She may be part reptilian, but she could still function well enough in the cold. Hellstorm knew that if he got too much colder, he would not be able fend Akara off if she attacked. He looked at his watch and took note of the fact that it had not changed since he put it back on. He took a closer look that it was still working, which really puzzled him.

"I can't tell what time it is. My watch is working properly." Hellstorm said as they walked.

"We need a way to warm ourselves up. I can see you shivering a bit over there, so don't tell me you're not cold." Akara said.

"I've nothing to burn and I'm sure you don't either. Let's keep moving." Hellstorm said as he kept walking. Akara slowly slithered behind him.

--

The two must have been walking for hours, at least that's what it felt like. Hellstorm had checked his watch a few times, but it still said that it was just a little after midnight.

"So, tell me about yourself." Akara asked finally breaking the silence.

"What does it matter?" Hellstorm replied, looking like he could fall over at anytime the way he was moving.

"I have this feeling that we'll be stuck here for a while. Not all demons are ravenous murderers. Some of are social creatures." Akara explained.

"I'm more concerned with finding a way out of here then anything else right now." Hellstorm was really starting to feel the cold get to him now. Even though he had only spent a few months in this time, he was starting to get the idea that this time was not going to be much better then his own. Some of the adaptations that had let him survive in his time could be called a handicap here. He had almost no feeling in his legs by now. "I need to find a fire soon." He said as he fell onto one knee, the light from his spikes and gemstones were slowly fading. There in the distance was a very small light, just barely visible.

"I see a light." Akara said. Hellstorm looked up; he could see it too.

"Let's go." Hellstorm forced himself back up and walked toward the light. As they got closer, they found a large fire. The fire was made of large logs and several tree limbs. The flames shot up high into the air dancing with light reds and some yellows, but the fire was mostly orange. Hellstorm did his best to get to the fire, but the cold had already taken its toll. He collapsed several yards away and well out of range of the warmth that the fire had promised. His body could no longer take the cold was slowly shutting down. Akara bent down and picked him up.

"What are you doing?" Hellstorm asked. He was too weak to fight back. Between the energy used to light up his spikes and gemstones and the cold he had forced to suffer from, he was out of energy.

"I'm carrying you. We have a better chance of finding a way out of here together." Akara explained. "Besides, I don't want to die here alone."

Akara slithered over to the fire with Hellstorm in her arms. His fur felt nice against her body. She gently set Hellstorm down as she looked around. The fire was more then warm enough. Akara soon found more then she could hope for. Not only was there a warm fire, but some one or some thing had left a large batch of meat roasting on the far side of the fire. She looked over the meat and found it completely cooked through. Being a demon, she didn't care who the meat belonged to, it was hers now.

"I found some meat." Akara said.

"For being the demon that attacked so many of the villages, you sure don't act like a demon." Hellstorm could already feel his body taking ion the warmth around him.

"I wasn't the demon that attacked those villages. That was my sister." Akara said. "When you showed up, I was just trying to scare you off mistaking you for a human. Unlike my sister, I really don't care much for humans as a meal. I just want to a live a nice quite life."

Hellstorm worked himself into a sitting position. "If you sister is the one that's been causing trouble, then she'll have to leave or die. My offer still stands though if you are in fact not the demon responsible for attacks. However, if you are lying, then I will kill you." Hellstorm explained.

"You seem to have a high level of trust for demons. Why is that?" Akara asked.

"Where I come from, I had a few demon friends. There was even a demon in the pack I used to be with." Hellstorm explained. Now that Hellstorm thought about it, Akara showed no signs of harm. She could be telling the truth that she was not attacking the villages.

"Why are you here and not with your pack?" Akara asked.

"My pack was slain by a bunch of ruthless demons. One by one, I saw them fall to the Demon Art known as the Reaper's Wraith." Hellstorm explained.

"That is the most powerful of all Demon Arts." Akara exclaimed. "The demon who uses it takes on the form of death itself. Only those who have defeated death can use it. How did you escape?"

"The Pokemon Gods or Deities, whatever they are, pulled me right out of my time. If I am to rewrite what happened that day, I must gather the seventeen elemental orbs and use them to defeat the demons in my time. That is my mission." Hellstorm explained.

"I can understand that. All right, I have another question. What made you cast off love?" Akara asked.

"You never know what you have until you lose it. Up until the day my pack was slain, I never understood why people said that." Hellstorm explained.

"You lost someone didn't you." Akara asked.

"Yes, I lost many family members that day and my one love. Now, I only seek to set things back to normal in my time. After that is done, I'm not sure what I'll do." Akara handed Hellstorm a piece of meat and Hellstorm slowly ate the meal he was given.

"Do you think we'll ever find a way out of here?" Akara asked.

"There has to be one. Whatever this place is, I don't think it's a natural place. There is almost nothing here." Hellstorm closed his eyes once he was done eating. Breathing slowly, he began to concentrate on the area around him looking for an exit. By using his aura view, Hellstorm was expands his range of sight by a several miles, seeing everything around him in that range in blue and black ghost like form. Luckily, Hellstorm quickly found something of interest. In his mind, he saw the ghostly outline of a pair of statues guarding what looked like a doorway. "I think I found something." Hellstorm said.

"Like what?" Akara asked.

"I have no idea. Get ready for anything." Hellstorm said walking toward the statues he saw with his aura view.

As the two figures walked, Hellstorm once again lit up the area. Having been so close to fire, his gemstones and spikes had absorbed the heat and turned some of it into usable energy.

At last, the statues came into view. One was of a large human, his arms gripping a long spear and it had the tip near the second statues throat. The second statue was of demon, which towered over the human. The demon held a blade to the human's heart. It looked like the two statues could spring to life any second and attempt to kill each other. Both statues had glowing blue eyes that appeared to be made of fire. Behind the statues was large arc. A large vortex of swirling energy filled this arc and a network of thorny rose vines made it impossible to enter the portal. There were several large white rose buds scattered among the vines.

"I assume this is the way out, but I have no idea how to open the portal." Hellstorm said.

"Where do you wish to go?" The dark voice rang out from the two statues.

"Who's there?" Hellstorm demanded.

"We are the keepers." The voice rang out again. "We control the gates of time."

"Then you can take me back to my time." Hellstorm shouted.

"We can, but not right now. You must first complete that which you were assigned to do before we may return you to your time." The voice rang out.

"Worthless. That's what you are. Worthless." Hellstorm shouted.

"What is this place?" Akara asked.

"This is the lair of the Riftwalker, a gap outside time where time does not pass. It is here that the Riftwalker may train and rest. Here the Riftwalker controls almost everything." The voice explained.

"What the hell is a Riftwalker?" Hellstorm asked.

"You are the Riftwalker." The voice called out. "This is your domain to command, however understand this. You do not control the gates of time nor do you control us."

"If I control this place, then why is it so empty." Hellstorm asked. "This is far from what I would I call my lair."

"This plane reflects your inner self. As you change, so will this land." The voice called. "You may also change it as you see fit, but every time you enter this place, it will reflect your inner self."

"Then I say do away with this empty land." Hellstorm threw his hand out. All at once, everything but portal, the statues, Akara, and himself vanished. Yet something still supported his weight and did not let him fall into the emptiness he had some how brought forth. Akara nearly had a heart attack from the fact that she was floating in mid air. Hellstorm just looked around half scared, half amazed by what had just happened. His breathing was hard because of the sudden shock that he had commanded this to happen. Akara rushed over to him, she was quite scared about what had just happened. "Bring it back, this is creeping me out." Just as fast as it had vanished, the empty stone ground had returned.

"What did you do?" Akara shouted, her arms still around Hellstorm.

"I don't know, but let's get out of here. Where can you take?" Hellstorm shouted up at the two statues.

"We can take you back to whence you came or return you to the last town you have been to." The voice replied.

"Then return me from whence I came. I still have business to take care of." Hellstorm shouted. The vines that had once blocked the passage to the portal wove themselves apart as they opened up revealing the way out. Hellstorm walked forward not knowing what to expect. Hellstorm touched the portal and his arm went cleanly through the vortex vanishing the deeper in it went. Hellstorm retracted his arm and inspected it. Everything seemed all right. Taking a deep breath, Hellstorm walked forward with Akara right behind him.

xXx

Hellstorm found himself standing outside the stone temple. He once again had his cloak on. Akara was right behind him. The sound of cracking stone was heard all throughout the area as the stone edifice slowly fell to the ground. Hellstorm placed his hand on some fallen branches and bright light came out of nowhere from the branch. "It's not much, but it will cover you up." Hellstorm said as he handed a brown and green shirt to Akara. "Now then, excuse me while I go deal with your sister." Hellstorm quickly got over the fact that he had been thrown out of time. Hellstorm would sooner forgot about that place since the keepers had refused to let him go home rather then deal with it. He was on a mission anyway; he had not time to worry about such things. Akara was still unsure about the whole ordeal.

A short distance away, Heather was under attack.

Hellstorm quickly picked up on the sounds of fighting and saw his target attacking Heather. "Come down here little birdy. I'm hungry." The large Lamia shouted in a somewhat teasing tone. Unlike Akara, this one had blue tail with a large snake head. She had short black hair and blood red eyes.

"Why don't you fight me?" Hellstorm shouted.

"Did my sister let you go? I guess you didn't please her enough." Akara watched from the sidelines. "Oh well, your mine now." The Lamia charge toward her target. She had longer tail then her sister and the snake's head was larger then Akara's as well.

Hellstorm looked on and stood still as his target charged in. "You make this too easy." Hellstorm said as he threw a fist into the bare chest of his target. Hellstorm did not stop there though. Using his free hand, he summoned an aura sphere and slammed it into the surprised Lamia's face. Slowly Akara slithered out of her hiding place.

"Sister, if you came to save your toy, its too late, he's mine." The Lamia shouted as she threw Hellstorm off of her. Hellstorm landed gently as he stood up again.

"I've not come to save to him." Akara shouted. "I've come to warn you."

"Warn me." The second Lamia took her eyes off of Hellstorm for a second, which Hellstorm did not waste. Hellstorm jumped back into the trees. "Warn me of… where did you go?" The Lamia shouted.

"Demon Art: Perfect Image." Hellstorm jumped into the sky and when he was directly above the Lamia, he split in two. Both images wore the same cloak as they fell down landing to the left and right of the Lamia. The Lamia eyed each one closely.

"Sister, please. Just return to demon world. He has more power then you could imagine. He is the Riftwalker." Akara shouted.

"This Pokemon is the next Riftwalker. Don't make me laugh. If he was, we never would have caught him like we did." The Lamia shouted.

She sent a blast of air at the one on her left and watched as the cloak on targets back flew back some. She quickly noticed that the second cloaked figure also had its cloak flowing backward in the same exact motion. She charged the figure on her left, the one she threw the wave of wind as and both figures charged her. She believed that she had found the real one as both figures were affected the same by her blast of wind.

Both of the cloaked figures jumped up and the Lamia used this time to strike her target. Her hand flew cleanly through her target as it faded away. The real Hellstorm landed a powerful double drop kick to the back of the Lamia's head sending her flying face first into a near by tree. Heather slowly came down.

"Thanks Hellstorm." The large bird bowed her head as she flapped her wings keeping her just a few feet off the ground. A heavy wind picked up as the second Lamia picked herself up.

The Lamia got up slowly shaking of the effects from the attack. "I should have taken you all for myself." She said as she regained her balance. "This might just be fun."

"I agree. However, I already told Ruby that this would be over by dawn." Hellstorm said.

"You were hired by the princess. I hope she's paying you well." The Lamia shot forward. Hellstorm ducked under her as she flew by. Her tail however, grabbed onto Hellstorm as it passed dragging him along for the ride.

"Ko mojo gi yen." Hellstorm quickly chanted his spell. Several large orbs of water appeared around Hellstorm and then launched themselves toward the Lamia. One by one, they hit her body with a surprising amount of force forcing her to let Hellstorm go. Hellstorm then ran out of the Lamia's range. Once he had enough room, he threw his right fist outward and began to collect dark energies in the spike on his arm.

"Black Palm." Hellstorm threw his fist and the thrust it forward releasing a small marble sized orb of dark energy, but the gasses that swirled around the make it looks much larger. Unlike the normal dark energies of Dark-type attacks, the Black Palm used the energies of darkness itself. Most were lucky to lucky to walk away from this powerful attack with nothing more then a scar of dark energy, but many have fallen beaten by this one attack.

The orb flew and hit the Lamia in the chest where it erupted like a small bomb. The Lamia was completely disoriented by the attack, she was not even sure which way was up. Her vision blurred and swirled while she did her best to regain herself.

"Hellstorm, be careful, she has the elemental orb of wind." Akara shouted knowing what was coming next.

"She what?!" Hellstorm was most surprised by the turn of events. When used properly, the elemental orb of wind also granted the user flight if they provided the energy needed for the wings. It was a hefty sum of energy, but she was demon. It would be easy for her to muster up that kind of energy if she knew how to use the orb.

Hellstorm took a defensive stance as the winds gathered around the second demon. "To think that a mere hunter could force me to use such a powerful artifact." She laughed. "You truly will make a wonderful mate even though you aren't really the Riftwalker."

"I'm so much more then a hunter." Hellstorm shouted over the gathering winds. He then got an idea. He reached into the depths of the cloak and pulled out a large bag. He threw the bag toward the demon who instantly tried to toss it way. Instead, she forced the bag open and a large sum of soot flew out. Hellstorm had intended to give the soot to a glassmaker in exchange for something, but given the circumstances, he thought it would be best to use it now.

The soot was quickly gathered up by the winds and Hellstorm found just much experience with the power of the wind she had. Unlike Hellstorm who could create a space of dead air around him when using his wind style Demon Arts, this demon had no such experience. The soot flew randomly around getting in her eyes and mouth breaking her concentration. The winds died down.

"This is you only chance to return to the demon world. Leave now or I'll take you life." Hellstorm shouted. The blinded Lamia threw a blast of energy toward Hellstorm, but he did not even need to move to avoid the attack. "Have it your way." Hellstorm jumped forward.

"Wait." Akara cried out. Although her sister was truly demonic, she was still Akara's sister.

"Demon Art: Windy Blade." Hellstorm gathered up the air around into an unseen blade. He used the air itself to cut the Lamia in two at the waistline separating the serpent half of the body and the human half. The only proof of was the wave of blood that followed after the unseen blade, before it just fell to ground.

The human half of the second Lamia landed next to Akara. "Sister, help me." The Lamia begged.

Akara just looked down at her sister. She could not believe what had happened. On the one hand, she was now free of her sister's control of her life and could freely choose her own life. On the other hand, she was now alone in the world. Very few trusted demons enough to even consider traveling with them.

"Sister, help me." The Lamia began to choke on her own blood.

"I can't." Akara began to cry. "I can't heal this."

"Take her soul. It's the only to put her out of the pain she feels. I failed to severe her soul from her body with my attack which would have given her a peaceful and painless death." Hellstorm said.

"Why, why'd you kill her?" Akara cried out.

"Demon like her aren't worth trying to convert. They'll never give up on their habits, not when their souls are tainted that badly." Hellstorm explained. "I've seen many tainted souls before, but hers was the worst. Some outside source corrupted her beyond saving." Akara just cried there with her dying sister in her hands. "The best thing for her to drain her soul. It will be quick and painless. These may seem like harsh words, but it's the fastest way to end her pain. I've not enough power left tonight to send her soul to the other side myself."

"It hurts." The Lamia cried out.

"Unlike humans, you can't just kill a demon by normal means. The only way to end her suffering at this point is to send her soul to the other side." Hellstorm explained.

"I'm sorry, sister." Akara slowly brought her mouth down to her sister's neck. She slowly drained her soul putting an end to the pain her sister felt. Hellstorm took the upper half of the body from Akara and set it next to the tail. Hellstorm set a hand on each of each half of the body and his spikes began to glow, even through the cloak he wore. With a sudden flash of light, the body lit up in a brilliant crimson flame before slowly going out.

"I've destroyed any remains of the corruption your sister suffered from." Hellstorm walked back over to Akara, who just broke crying.

"Let's go." Heather said cautiously landing on the ground. "I've had enough to do with demons today.

"Not yet." Hellstorm said. He took a seat on a fallen branch and just waited.

Akara continued crying for a while before she finally collected herself.

"I think this is yours." Akara held the orb out for Hellstorm to see wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. Hellstorm walked over to Akara.

"Hellstorm, what are you doing?!" Heather shouted seeing how Hellstorm seemed to be on friendly terms with a demon.

"Not all demons are evil. I should know. When I come from, it was common for demons to work hand in hand with Pokemon and humans." Hellstorm explained. "Now, what do you want in return for the orb?" Hellstorm asked.

"Don't you mean where?" Heather asked.

"I mean when. I'm from a different time." Hellstorm replied.

"I want to travel with you." Akara said. "I already know how to take human form and I can hold it for days on end."

"A reasonable request… as long as you don't make another attempt to mate me like before." Hellstorm said.

"Did I miss something?" Heather asked confused by Hellstorm's last sentence.

"You'll still be the father of my children someday, but I can wait." Akara giggled a bit. It had seemed that she was starting to understand the fact that what was done had to be done for a reason. More humans would have died and there was chance that she might have been killed herself if her sister was left unchecked.

"Just remember, any attempts like you made before and I'll cast you back to the demon world myself." Hellstorm reminded her with a kind, yet still stern tone of voice.

"Very well." Akara curled her tail around herself whilst chanting a simple spell. Her tail seemed to melt into her body. When she was done, her upper hadn't changed at all, but instead of a tail, she now had a pair of legs. A decent sized skirt covered them down to the knees as she stepped forward. "Can your friend carry us both?" Akara asked.

"I'm only here for Hellstorm." Heather said.

"I'll take care of her." Hellstorm assured Heather.

"If she causes any trouble, I'll drop her off mid flight. You got that demon." Heather shouted.

"Her name is Akara. She's not the one responsible for the attacks on the villages, so don't treat her like she was." Hellstorm said. "Now let's go." Heather sighed as she landed allowing both passengers to board before taking off.

xXx

It was another short ride over to the manor. Heather set down quietly besides the stables. The full moon lit the area just like it had lit the forest. Hellstorm noticed a single moving light in the manor. Akara stood beside him. The light slowly made its way to a door. The door it had stopped at opened and Ruby along with Victor, Ruby's bodyguard were both standing at the door.

"I assume you have cleared the lands of the demon that attacked the villages and rescued one as well." Ruby asked, the latter part of her question referring to Akara of course.

"This is Akara. The demon responsible for the attacks has been killed and her soul drained. There is no hope for the Lamia to come back." Hellstorm explained.

"How did you drain her soul?" Ruby asked.

"I'd like to explain things to you a bit in private. Perhaps we can answer several of the questions for each if we talk things over." Hellstorm requested.

"Very well." Ruby bowed her head. "Victor, take the Akara to the den and give her some tea."

"As you wish." Victor said holding the door open letting the four of them enter the manor while Heather returned to her nest in the stable.

"And before I forget. I see that you do not have my blade. I hope that it was put to good use before it was lost." Ruby looked toward Hellstorm.

"It was a grand weapon. I do hope that another can be made for me. It served its purpose well while I had it." Hellstorm replied.

Ruby led Hellstorm to her private study. There were several books on legends and myths, a few on Pokemon, and there was large book on ships as well. A single White Oak desk sat in the middle of the room with three white oak chairs to match. Ruby sat down in the one of the chairs, as did Hellstorm.

"What is you view on demons?" Hellstorm asked.

"I've had a few experiences with them. None of which ended well." Ruby replied.

"In my time, it was not uncommon for demons to work with Pokemon and humans. I hope you will share my view that not all demons are evil." Hellstorm explained.

"What brought this up?" Ruby asked.

"Akara drained her sister's soul and in return for the Orb of Wind," Hellstorm held up the clear glass orb for Ruby to see. "Akara now wishes to travel with me. I have no objections seeing as her demonic knowledge could prove valuable should I find that one of the orbs I seek lies in the demon world. What about you?"

"Akara is a demon? What kind of demon?" Ruby asked.

"Akara is a Lamia, although she has some strong magic. I'll keep an eye on her and if she should make any attacks on a human or Pokemon, I'll cast her back to the demon world myself." Hellstorm said.

"Very well. I'll give her a chance. Now, what else is there that you wish to ask me?" Ruby knew there was more to this.

"You claim to know a lot about Crimson Warriors. What other names do you know them by?" Hellstorm asked.

"Riftwalkers. I've sometimes heard them referred to as the Chosen Ones. In the Northern Kingdom of Retreka, they are called the Hunters of Time." Ruby explained.

"We'll go with the term Riftwalker. How much do you know of a place called the Lair of the Riftwalker?" Hellstorm asked.

"Legends tell of a place where time does not flow. A place that only the Riftwalkers and those around them can go. I've heard that the Lair is often a reflection of ones self. Why do ask? I've never heard anything to suggest that it does exist. Have you been there?" Ruby inquired.

"That I have. What else have you heard of that lair?" Hellstorm replied.

"I heard that the gates of time lay there. It is also the place where the Riftwalker stores the orbs and unlocks their power." Ruby walked over to the bookshelf and removed a large blue book. The title read Ancient Myths and Legends. Ruby opened the book to a unique page and shoed the picture to Hellstorm. "Long ago, it was said that a Riftwalker invited a human to his domain, this lair." The picture showed a single stone slab with nineteen round holes. There was a hole in the center and two rings around the center hole. The inner ring had six holes and the outer ring had twelve. "This is supposed to be the lock that seals away the true power of the elemental orbs." Ruby explained. "However, there are only seventeen elemental orbs and nineteen holes in the stone."

"This could mean that there are two additional orbs out there or that two of the holes are not meant to be filled." Hellstorm concluded.

"Correct. Now then, as promised." Ruby put the book back and walked back to her desk. "One Orb of Water. I've cast a spell on it so that should the demon that has been attack my villages returns, the orb will return to me." Ruby opened up the top drawer of the desk she had and pulled out the blue orb. The waters still raged forth in the orb. Ruby handed the orb to Hellstorm and the waters in the orb slowed and stopped leaving a calm deep blue orb in Hellstorm's hand. "It seems that you have made good on your word. Come, I'll show you to your room." Ruby led Hellstorm out of the study and back to the living area where Victor and Akara were waiting.

"Akara, please come with me. I'll show you to your room for the night." Akara stood and followed Hellstorm and Ruby down the halls. Like before, there were many pictures of the royal family in the halls as well as some more replica weapons. Victor was following close behind.

"This is your room Akara." Ruby held open a wooden door that separated a fairly large bedroom from the hallway. There was a large bed with several pillows in the center of the room. It was of a basic design, large wooden sides with soft silk cover. One the one side of the room stood a simple dresser and wardrobe. A large mirror on the door of the wardrobe would easily allow for one see their entire body that was facing the mirror. On the other side of the room was a set of chairs and a fireplace.

"This is one of my special guest rooms. Please do not ruin it." Ruby said as Akara entered the room.

"Thank you." Akara bowed as she entered the room and closed the door.

"Hellstorm, your room is this way." Ruby led Hellstorm done the hall a short ways. They stopped before a set of double doors. One the other side of the hall was a second set of double doors. Ruby opened the doors on the left side of the hallway. Inside was a room fit for a royalty. A large canopy bed occupied the center of the room with large silk curtains hung around it. The bed must have had at least twelve pillows on it and there were several silk blankets. On one side of the room was a grand Granite fireplace much like the one in the living area. Several chairs were spread out by the fireplace, all around a simple oak table meant to hold snacks and drinks. On the other side were a large bookshelf, two wardrobes, and door.

"That door leads to a private bathing area. The water is pumped in from the furnace, so it is always warm. My room is just across the hall if you need anything." Ruby told her guest.

"I'm not used to such things." Hellstorm turned to face Ruby. "I've always been used to small sleeping areas."

"While you are here, this will be your room. Please enjoy it. It's not everyday that I have a guest like you here." Ruby handed Hellstorm the key to the room.

"I'm not as special as you think I am." Hellstorm said.

"You're a Riftwalker. You're as unique as they come." Ruby countered. "Now please, we should all get some sleep as we'll have to start tracking down the other orbs in the morning." Ruby turned and opened the door to her room which was an almost mirror image of Hellstorm's room except for the paintings for her parents that were hung over around the room. "Good night." Ruby closed the door and left Hellstorm to his room.

"This is most definitely a change of pace." Hellstorm walked in and hung his cloak near the bed. He sat up against the headboard and began to think. Soon enough, his eyes were closed and his mind at peace, at least for now. He slept quietly for the rest of the night.


	3. The Darker Side of Evolution

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'_Poketalk'_

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 3: The Darker Side of Evolution

Hellstorm awoke early the next morning thanks to some unknown noise. Looking around, he saw very little light coming in through the window. The sun was only just beginning to rise. Hellstorm walked over to the door that led to private bathing area. He was still not quite awake as he had only slept for about four, maybe hours. One of the drawbacks to living under a day that was half of what Hellstorm was used to was to adjust to a whole new schedule. He often found himself awake for two or three days at a time without rest only to find an isolated cave or someplace where he could sleep for anywhere from ten to twenty hours straight, hopefully undisturbed. As a result of his unusual pattern of sleep and failing to get enough of it, he failed to notice the light sounds of water. Rather then just go back and lie down, Hellstorm decided to just do with what sleep he had gotten and wait until dusk to get more sleep. This was normal for him. He opened the door and walked. The room was quite big. Several plants were hung all over the room making it look somewhat like a garden. Rather then the usual tile or wood flooring, the floor was lined with small stone bricks with some sort of silver colored cement holding them in place giving the place a more outdoor hot spring feel to the room. In the center of the bath was a large fountain. There were a few benches placed around the room and a few torches hung here and there, but they more then lit up the large bathing area enough to see. Hellstorm failed to notice the pair of eyes watching him as he closed the door. Only after he turned back around did he notice the pair of eyes.

"I'm sorry; I thought you said this was private bathing area." Hellstorm nodded his head toward Ruby before going back for the door.

"This is a private bathing area. Private for me _and_ any special guests that I might have staying at the manor. There's no need to leave. Come, take a seat and relax. It will give us a chance to talk." Ruby said. She sat comfortably along the bottom of the tub, the water just barely coming up to her neck.

"Very well." Hellstorm slowly removed his shorts and climbed into the water. "What do you wish to talk about?"

"Let's talk about you." Ruby adjusted her position some taking seat against the edge of the tub facing Hellstorm. The tub would easily accommodate at least ten more people leaving more then enough room for Hellstorm and Ruby to stretch out if they needed and still now worry about bumping into each other.

"My life is not that interesting." Hellstorm replied. He was too tired to try and avoid the topic altogether and did not fell like putting up with a constant lag about. He would have to tell her sooner or later if he was going to stay here anyway, so he might as well tell her now.

"Tell me about where you came from. You mentioned things about humans, demons, and Pokemon all working hand in hand. I'd like to hear about your time. It must be quite nice to live like that." Ruby explained.

"The time I lived in was far from perfect. To my knowledge, that is if stories are true, there are only two large landmasses left on the planet." Hellstorm began. "And neither one of them were kind. I grew up in the desert on a much longer day then you have here, almost twice as long as you have here in this time. My father was the pack Alpha and he made sure that had the best chance in that desert. He would constantly be fending off other packs who would try to take the plateau that we lived on." Hellstorm was calm while telling his story.

"Your father was the pack alpha. That must have been nice." Ruby commented.

"My father hated me, but still choose me to lead the pack with his dying breath. His was not known for his trust of outsiders, but he still named my mother his prime mate. From what I was told, they met during a sandstorm." Hellstorm said. "The reason my father defended the plateau we lived on so strongly was for the cave systems that had been dug into the plateau. It took a lot less magic to seal a small opening then it did to cover an entire camp with a barrier which meant that we could hold out longer during the stronger storms." Hellstorm explained. "My brothers told me that my father had just finished moving the last of the pack inside the caves when a voice cried out is distress. Eric, not willing to lose anymore of the pack to the storms that ravaged the land quickly took off to find the source leaving the protection of the caves." Ruby just looked on kindly. She was going to like hearing about this story. "He found my mother, Julian hopping along trying to find cover as the storm was nearly upon her. Eric grabbed her and raced back to caves with her in his arms. According to my brothers and the old witch, my father broke his own foot when he stumbled and tripped trying to get into the caves. He had to dive through the barrier head first in order to out run the sand."

"Your father sounds nice." Ruby said.

"He was far from it. Like I said, he hated outsiders. He only ran out to my mother because he thought that the voice belonged to one of the pack. After seeing who it was, he let her stay and explain why she was alone. Julian was kicked from her last pack because of the seer in her last pack. The seer fore told that Julian would tear the pack a part. The Alpha was about to risk his pack on one female and forced her to leave. She eventually found the plateau and worked her way up looking for a place to seek cover from the approaching storm. Julian proved her worth after the storm was over. She had a fair knowledge of technology." Hellstorm paused to catch his breath.

"What is this technology?" Ruby asked.

"Technology is the result of science. In my world, we found many devices and artifacts in ruined cities. All we know about these ruined cities is that they were taken over by the desert and many of the devices within them no longer work. The various packs of my time would salvage what they could and leave the rest. This here is a piece of technology." Hellstorm took off his watch and handed it to Ruby. "This device is used to tell time. It will also start to beep when once a set time has been reached."

"Amazing. It must have taken a powerful wizard to make this." Ruby was fascinated by the device.

"Magic was not used to create that. That magic you sense is my own that I have used to keep the device working. Now then, where was I?" Hellstorm asked holding his hand.

"You had said that Julian had just proved her worth to the pack." Ruby handed watch back to Hellstorm.

"Alright, then. Julian had just proved her worth and Eric realized then that she would make a nice mate. Eric was still new as Alpha, only having been Alpha for a few years. He had still not taken a mate of his own. There was one other that Eric was thinking of making his mate at the time, but I don't know who. All I know is that she was quickly throw out of the pack for something. No one seemed to want to talk about it, so I didn't really push the matter. Anyway, Julian soon became my father's prime mate, the Alpha female of the pack. Over the course of a several years, they had six other children. Since my mother and father were both Lucario's our pack grew to have a fair number of them in their ranks." Hellstorm continued. "Then came the day that my egg was laid. My mother had laid one egg before me and my father was once again proud to claim that he was the father. That is until he saw my egg. Rather then the usual light blue, black, or green eggs that Riolu, the pre-evolved form of Lucario are born from, the egg I was in a deep crimson color much like the color of my spikes."

"I don't see how that is a problem. All of the Crimson Warriors had a deep crimson egg that they were hatched from." Ruby commented.

"My father was not one to easily trust people, as the pack he was in was very rough. Trust was hard to come by. Even after he left that pack and earned the title of Alpha in my pack before he named me alpha, he was still hard put to trust anyone. When he saw my crimson egg, he thought that my mother had mated another. He kept his head though and agreed to let her stay and even raise me as his own, no matter what species I was. My sister hatched about a month after being laid the normal time for a Riolu egg to hatch, but I was still far from hatching." Hellstorm went on with his story. The sun was now about half way over the horizon and light slowly filled the room.

"I assume that this sister your talking was the egg that was laid just before yours was." Ruby inquired.

"Yes. She hatched on time, but I still lay dormant inside the crimson egg I was born in. Another month passed and I had still not hatched. My father and mother were growing worried that I had died inside the egg and asked our own seer to come and check on my egg. The seer took one look at my crimson egg and started shouted about the Hellstorm had come. I assume that this is how I got my name. Only a few days after the seer began screaming about this Hellstorm, I finally hatched. Unlike other Riolu of the pack, my discs that I was born with were the same color as my spikes. Other then that and gemstone in my forehead, I was a normal Riolu. My father did not hate me at first, but did take the seer's cries of fear seriously. She had been able to accurately predict many storms before, so of course my father heeded whatever words she spoke. We lost her in the next storm though. She died protecting one of my brothers. A few years passed and my father still kept the seer's cries of fear in his mind. We were on our way to coast. It was my first time heading to coast. We needed water and wood and I had been selected as one of the many to go out and get the supplies we needed. We had a deal with a few of the demons that lived along the stretch of coast we would gather our supplies from. We gave then old unused pieces of technology to let us walk freely in their land completely ignoring us, and I do mean completely ignoring us. They would not lift a finger to help us fend off a stray or rival demon or beast. They would not even warn us of such things."

"I thought you worked hand in hand with the demons." Ruby asked slightly confused.

"Only with a few demons, not all of them." Hellstorm explained. "It was on that day that I first learned that I was far from normal. In my time, only humans were capable of magic. That is at least what everyone thought. An enraged beast attacked as we neared the water's edge. It was chasing a young vampire, and my pack got caught in the middle. The little vampire ran and tripped. I was right next to her and helped her up. The beast flew forth and I thought it was over. I raised my left out of instinct hoping that it would somehow scare the beast. Everyone thought it was over for me." Hellstorm looked at his left hand. With the light as it was there were just the slightest signs of scarring.

"What happened?" Ruby asked noticing the scars.

"I used my first magic spell that day. A defensive spell called the Dark Wing."

Without realizing it, Hellstorm began to space out remembering the events of that day perfectly. The water began to ripple as a clear image of Hellstorm's past began to play out on the water's surface.

xXx

Flashback….

The semi large pack of Pokemon with a few humans walked cautiously threw a dense wood. The pack was lead by a Lucario.

"Keep together. Just because we paid off the demons doesn't mean that the beasts won't hunt us." The Lucario quietly alerted the pack. In all, there were total of ten people.

There was the leading Lucario, although shorter then most of the group, it was obvious that he was the leader. Instead of the four usual dreadlocks that Lucario had, this one only had three, two on the left side of the back of his head and one on the right. There was still a slight stump showing where the forth one was before it had somehow been removed. He walked a few steps ahead of the rest.

Up next in the line of people were a male human and a Riolu. The Riolu walked beside the human, the top of his head only reaching up to man's waistline and kept searching around making sure that nothing would get the drop on it. Instead of the usual silver colored discs on the back of his hands, the discs were a deep shade of crimson. There was also a very small gemstone between his eyes that matched the discs on his arms. The human wore a light set of clothing made for maneuverability rather then durability. He stood up about a foot higher then the Lucario leader.

Next up were pair of Machamp, all four arms of these two were huge made mostly of muscle. A Charmeleon followed suit, her tail lighting up the somewhat dark woods. The three of them seemed to be talking very quietly among themselves.

Another human, only this one was female walked next in line. Her simple clothing and staff she carried suggested that she was not a fighter. The light that came from her staff proving she had some skill in magic.

After that, came the last three of the group. Three Flygon, two males and a female, these large desert dragons walked slowly, their backs covered with large bags on wooden frames in a way that they could still take flight without fear of getting snagged in a second's notice if needed. Although everyone had some sort of bag or pack with them, the Flygon had the largest hands down.

The group of ten walked carefully. Some would call them jumpy because even the sudden noise of cricket caused all ten faces to search for the source. The trees weren't too thick, just large. The branches reached out for several yards, a thick layer of leaves covering each and every little limb. Just up ahead, the group could make out the outline of sandy beach that marked their destination.

"Keep quite now. I'll go ahead and check for beasts." The Lucario alerted his group. With one swift jump, the Lucario vanished into the dense canopy without the slightest sound to follow. A minute passed before he returned. "All clear. Let's hurry up and get what we need. I never did like this place."

A sudden rustling in the brush caused everyone to take a defensive stance. A little girl, maybe fifteen, sixteen years old charged along. She was bleeding slightly as she ran. The dark demonic dress showed that she was part of some higher demonic family.

"Help me. Please help me." She cried out. She looked human enough, a light skin tone, but slightly tanned, her blue eyes filled with fear because of what she was running from. Her nails were short and not pointed; she had no tail or anything such demonic image except for a single fang on the left side of her mouth. The Riolu was quick to note the remains of large tooth on the opposite of her mouth, the remains of a broken fang. The girl tripped and landing in front of the Riolu.

"Hellstorm, be careful." The Lucario shouted.

"She's a vampire with a broken fang." The little Riolu shouted back.

"Help me please." The girl cried again. She reached for Hellstorm.

"This is not good." The Lucario shouted. Very few things could scare a vampire, much less get one to beg for help. Right now, the vampire was not threat, not if she was begging for help. "Everyone, prepare yourselves."

The ground began to shake as something else drew near. The Riolu grabbed the little vampire around the waist and jumped back carrying the vampire with him. "Hellstorm, what are you doing?" The Lucario shouted just before a large green glowing pair of eyes came into view. The rest of the monster quickly followed. The large beast was a mutated Pokemon. The Leafeon stood well over eight feet tall even though it was still on all four of its legs. Instead of the calm relaxed personality that most Leafeon had, this was one out for blood. Its sharp fangs were already with the blood of others. Its body was covered scars and open wounds, none of which bleed however.

"That thing is under a demonic sickness." The female human shouted raising her staff. The leaves that tipped its tail and ears were a deep shade of blue rather then the normal green. Hellstorm was the closest target and it did not even think about the others. It charged in striking both the vampire and Hellstorm with a powerful headbutt attack. The resulting impact sent both of the intended targets flying back hard into a very thick tree trunk. The vampire held on tightly to Hellstorm as the beast neared them again. Before anyone could react, the beast swung its head around releasing a storm of Razor Leaf. Hellstorm threw his left hand up in a hope to stop to the attack. Hellstorm shut his eyes tightly hoping he wouldn't feel too much pain in death.

"Hellstorm!" The Lucario cried out.

The first leaf hit his handing leaving a deep open wound, but none of the others seemed to make it. A large set of dark feathery wings had surrounded Hellstorm and the vampire. The beast stopped its attack upon seeing the large dark wings. It charged forward and collided hard with the wings, but they would not budge. Hellstorm opened his eyes to see the large beast trying to break through the large barrier. He stared up at the large while it stared back, snarling.

The female human threw her staff toward the beast like a javelin. The end of the staff hit the beast hit the beast and there was bright flash blinding the beast, Hellstorm, and the vampire.

"Attack." The Lucario shouted. Hellstorm was unable to see what had happened in the next few seconds, but when the light died away, the beast was running off. The little vampire looked at Hellstorm's hand.

"You're hurt." The vampire still had some fear in her voice. She lifted her hand over the cut and a light blue light bathed Hellstorm's hand. The cut scabbed over, but was far from healed. The vampire ripped off a piece of her dress and wrapped Hellstorm's hand in the soft fabric. "I'm so sorry for pulling you into this." Tears formed in her eyes.

"Why was that thing after you?" The Lucario walked over to where Hellstorm and vampire were.

"It slew my parents before my eyes and then chased after me. It belongs to rival clan of demons. They captured the poor thing and beat near death several times over before turning it into what you saw." The vampire had a small, very light stream of tears running down her cheeks.

End Flashback…

xXx

The water stopped rippling. "My father eventually let her join the pack after a few days, and thus the first demon entered our pack. For a while, my father kept a very close eye on me. He paid very close attention to my seemingly impossible use of magic. I heard rumors over the next few years that my father was thinking of disowning me. A Pokemon with the use of magic would certainly draw the attention of the demons of the land. The vampire, Sora was my closest friend during that time. For the most part, life was good. With my new found abilities, I was both shunned and honored by the various members of the pack, but my father, although he seemed happy, was never too sure." Hellstorm explained. He now talked like he was in a trance. There were signs to show what he felt. "Then on the day that I turned eight, they attacked. Once again the water began to ripple as a new image occupied the tub.

xXx

Flashback…

"Get back here. I'm not done talking to you." The large Lucario yelled. "I am the alpha of this pack and you will listen to me." The Lucario only had three of the four dreadlocks.

"Alpha? I serve no alpha, father." A little Riolu shouted. His crimson discs shown brightly as did the gem between his eyes. "I'm leaving this place to find my own role in life. I might return one day, but don't count on it." The Riolu shouted.

"Hellstorm, please." A female Lucario walked up behind the first Lucario. "Your father is right, but so are you. Both of you need to calm down. April just sensed a storm and she said it would be here soon." The female Lucario pleaded for the two of them stop arguing.

"I'm sorry mother. Tell Sora I beg her forgiveness." With that, Hellstorm began to walk off and down the stone path the lead up to the plateau's flat top. With nothing more then small pouch of water, Hellstorm went to find his true calling in life. With his magic to aid him, he would be able to take care of most things that the desert would throw at him. Hellstorm hadn't even made it half way down the path when the sounds of fighting broke out on the plateau top. At first Hellstorm thought nothing of it, thinking his father had just lost his temper. Then he saw the mangled upper body of a Flygon blast past his head. Hellstorm instantly turned and ran back up to the plateau's top only to see several demons raging war against his clan. Summoning a large fireball in his hand, Hellstorm charged forward. He was fast and small, two things that played in his favor, but he lacked the strength needed for hand to hand combat. He would instead have to use his magic to defend the pack from these foes.

"Where is magic user?" The lead demon shouted. "Find that Pokemon and bring him to me." The large demon only had one dark scalely wing. His talon like feet dug into the ground as he walked. His left arm looked like a massive human arm covered in blood while his right arm was like that of Scyther. The long silver curved blade gleamed in the bright desert light.

One of the lesser demons charged Hellstorm and mistook his fireball for a fire punch. The Demon ducked under the flaming fist only to receive a brutal blast of fire in its eyes. It cried out in pain as it covered its eyes. Hellstorm's father fought against the lead demon, he was fast, strong, and very smart. He planned every one of his moves into the next creating an endless stream of attack. The lead demon was force to take the defensive. If it wasn't an Aura sphere he was dodging or deflecting, then it was a fist or foot that he had to be careful of. The Lucario acted as though he had done this a thousand times before as he linked each move almost perfectly to the next. Hellstorm's mother Julian had her own problems; a Succubus was busy toying with her. With the demonic whip she had, range was in her favor.

Everyone who was able fought against the demons, even Sora who was using her advanced magics to defend others from the demons. It was nothing short of a brutal war of sheer power. The plateau surface already had several new craters like dents in it and a few sections of the cliffside had already started to crumble.

Hellstorm charged toward his father and the demon he was fighting. Eric must have seen Hellstorm charging in and took his eye of the demon for just a second. The Demon saw this and brought his left arm down hard. Eric didn't falter and continued his string of attacks. Hellstorm charged in, but the demon sent him flying into the cliff side the supported the highest level of the plateau. Once again, Hellstorm dawned the black feathery wings that had saved him and Sora before.

"You. Your blood is mine." The demon shouted as he charged for Hellstorm regardless of Eric's fierce attacks who had already rejoined the fight like he was never gone in the first place. Hellstorm summoned up the most magic he could and let loose a hail storm of ice, but being as inexperienced he was, the spell took a toll on his body as well. A sharp sudden coldness came over Hellstorm. The shards of ice plowed throw the demon tearing throw skin and bone, anything that got in their way. The demon fell to one knee and Eric took this chance to strike. He jumped into the air and charged up the largest orb of Aura energy that he could, an orb much bigger then his own body.

The Demon looked skyward to see the descending Lucario… and the attack he carried with him. "Demon Art: Reaper's Wraith." A sudden darkness fell the over the plateau. The shadow's themselves reached for the demon and covered him in a dark mist like substance leaving only his scythe like arm uncovered. The demon jumped skyward screeching out in a horrible voice causing everyone but Eric to cover their ears. Eric brought the orb down in one hand as the demon suddenly shot skyward. A wave of blood shot out of Eric's waist as the orb vanished in a fiery blast. Eric's upper body landed next to Hellstorm while his legs bounce of the plateau.

"Hellstorm." Eric called to his boy before it was too late. "Know this… while I may… not approve of your methods… I name you… alpha." Eric began coughing up blood. "You've the… heart of… a lead… leader in you… my son." Eric gathered up the last of his life force for one final attack. The demon landed still shrouded in the dark mist as Eric fired the white orb of aura into what could have been the head. With one swift slash, the demon cleaved the orb into two. It once again let out the terrifying shriek as before and made a dash for Julian. Just like with Eric, a wave of blood followed the demon as it passed dragging Julian's left arm with it. The female Lucario fell to ground clutching the stump of the missing arm with her good arm crying in pain. Sora let loose a storm of rocks at the demon before it turned on her with a very similar result. As she fell to the ground, her head fell from the body turning to ash as it fell leaving the demonic dress she had always worn float away in the heavy wind.

"Mother, Sora…" Hellstorm couldn't believe his eyes. He was powerless to stop the slaughter before him. There were demons to the left and to the right of him slaying his pack without mercy. "NOOOO!!!!!" A sudden wave of crimson light flooded the plateau. When the light died down, a fairly tall Lucario stood before the demons. All three of the spikes were crimson in color, as was the gem above his eyes. A second gem at the base of the back of the Lucario's next matched the spikes and other gemstone. He had silver eyes and slightly longer fangs then the rest of the Lucario.

"Demon Art: Severed Soul." The Lucario said in a deep, but emotionless voice. A light blue spirit like Lucario body left Hellstorm. His eyes went black and showed only anger. He charged the closest demon as his hand outstretched. The demon tried to grab the Lucario, but failed. The Lucario summoned for an aura sphere inside the demon's skull and let the lifeless body drop as it burned away in a black fire leaving only bones behind.

"You take my family and friends without mercy. You slaughter my pack like cattle. You kill the only one who I shared my heart with. Now I will return the pain a thousand times over before I am done with you." A dark aura surrounded Hellstorm as he charged. Every demon charged the Lucario except the leader. One by one, the demons tried to attack the Lucario only to receive a brutal attack of various sorts in the attempt. One demon had his heart removed whilst another was left without the use of its legs. Another one had been blinded as its eyes had been forcefully removed. Hellstorm came to spot where his mother was and picked her up. Demons closed in, but with one swift jump, Hellstorm landed safely on top of the highest level of the plateau.

"I'll be right back." Hellstorm said, his own voice had a demonic ring to it.

"No, you can't." Julian struggled to get to her feet. Most of her left side was now covered in blood. "You'll die." Julian said. Julian used her mouth to remove a small wristwatch from her right wrist. She flipped it over and showed Hellstorm the inscription. It was a date. "The old witch Yula predicted this day. If you go down there you'll die. If they get your blood, no one can stop them. Please, we have to run." Julian did her best to talk even with the pain. "I never believed this would happen until today." Julian fell to her knees. Hellstorm summoned up a large sum of energy and threw it at his mother. Her severed arm sealed over and the bleeding stopped. Hellstorm picked up the watch and put it on his wrist.

"Father named me alpha just before his last breath. They killed my family, my love, my pack. I intend to repay them before they leave. I don't fear death. Not after what they have done." Hellstorm jumped back into the mass of demons.

He landed creating a crater killing the demon he landed on. "Now you will feel death by my hands." Hellstorm charged again, heading straight for the demon who had claimed the life of his father and Sora. No matter the class of type of demon that tried to intercept Hellstorm, they were all cast aside with fatal injuries ranging from severed limbs to missing organs. The blood poured down like rain over the battlefield. Only two demons remained. The first demon walked forward. The mist surrounding its body reached out for the blood as the demon moved. It once again voiced it awful cry as it charged. Hellstorm was ready, but he would only have time for one chance to kill this demon, he had wasted too much energy on the others. The second demon shot an arrow that flew fast and nicked Hellstorm in the arm. The slightest amount of his blood stuck to arrow as it collided with the mist covered demon. Hellstorm charged his attack, after seeing how the demon had disposed of its enemies, he knew what to expect… or at least he thought he did. The demon charged but at the last second, an aura based scythe came down above Hellstorm. Hellstorm launched his last attack as the scythe came down in his left arm, the aura based weapon snaked through Hellstorm's arm attacking it from the inside as Hellstorm's own Aura sphere did the same to the mist covered demon.

"I win." The demonic voice of the demon claimed as he began to absorb the aura in him. "I only needed your magic filled blood to perfect my own body."

Several shadowy chains burst forth from the mist covered demon's back. Many of the chains surrounded Hellstorm and held him in place while the other chains tore throw the survivors of his attack. One unique barbed chain flew up to the where Julian stood and launched onto her feet dragging her painfully back down to the lower level. "Let me show you what will become of you." A dark mist crept out from the demon and surround Julian. She cried in pain as her skin began to decay even before it left her body. She died seconds later. The blue spirit like body forcefully returned to Hellstorm as his emotions came rushing back.

"Mother!!!" Hellstorm cried out in pain seeing how his mother had died. Before Hellstorm could even comprehend what had happened, he was tossed through time. The vortex of time swirled in various colors around him before he fell in the middle of a forest."

End flashback…

xXx

"Hellstorm spent a week just trying to figure out what happened before we explained what we had done to him. Unfortunately, Hellstorm has failed to understand what we told him." Hellstorm's eyes were almost dead. "I speak to you now through his body; I am Arceus, the god of all pokemon. Hellstorm must have help. He fails to understand that this is not something he can do alone. Ruby, as the god of Pokemon, I do not command you to help Hellstorm. I'm asking you to help Hellstorm. For now, let him rest. Whether he wishes to admit it or not, he does need to rest. Please do not wake him up for some time. You will hear from me again when the time is right." Hellstorm eye's returned to normal before he passed out.

Ruby rushed over and helped Hellstorm out of tub. Ruby was surprised by the sudden coldness of the gemstone embedded in Hellstorm's neck as it touched her bare skin and nearly dropped him. She caught herself in time though. She set Hellstorm onto one of the benches while she got dressed. She carried Hellstorm back over to his room and laid him upon the bed. He only weighed a hundred and some odd pounds, which was how she was able to carry him.

"What happened?" Ruby sat on the edge of the bed. The sun was now fully over the horizon and gave off a brilliant light. Ruby began to think about the images she had seen whilst in the tub with Hellstorm. She went back into the bathroom and retrieved Hellstorm's shorts setting them on the nightstand for Hellstorm to find when he woke. "If that really was Arceus, then this is far bigger then the myths and legends I have read even begin to mention." Ruby talked to herself as she left the room. Victor stood before her as she walked down the hall.

"I need some books from the royal library. I need anything that relates to a being called Arceus, the god of the Pokemon we called beasts. Also, bring me back anything you find on the Riftwalkers, the name Hellstorm, and anything else that might relate to my guest's Riftwalker past." Rudy said as she looked up at her cloaked bodyguard.

"Very well. I assume that there is a reason for this." Victor asked.

"Yes, I'll explain it later. I want all of those books here by weeks end." Rudy answered. "And see if the book keeper can come too." Ruby added as she headed to the living area.

"As you wish. Everything you asked for will be here by weeks end." Victor headed for the stables.

Ruby headed to her private study to reread whatever books she already had on the topics at hand. If the gods themselves were helping in a way, then this was by far no simple task. She would need to learn as she could to help Hellstorm. She opened up the book she had shown Hellstorm the night before and flipped it open to the page that showed the stone slab.

"If there are only seventeen elemental orbs, then why are there nineteen open places on the slab? Either this book is not very accurate or there is much more to this puzzle then just the elemental orbs of power." Ruby said to herself as she pulled out a second book and began to read.


	4. Return to the Lair

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'_Poketalk'_

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 4: Return to the Lair

The first few hours of the day passed quietly without Hellstorm. Ruby spent most of that time thinking about what happened earlier that morning. For the most part, she spent her day looking through various books trying to find out as much as she could. She had gotten so involved in her reading again that she failed to notice that her breakfast was getting cold. It wasn't until lunch when Anna, her childhood friend, came in that she actually noticed. "Ruby, if Maria finds out you let your breakfast go cold just because you were reading again, she won't be happy." Anna quietly set down a tray of food next to the one that was already resting on the small desk.

"Breakfast? Who brought me breakfast?" Ruby asked looking up for the first time since she started reading. She wore a simple blue shirt that was made of the same material as her training gear and had a matching set of pants. A set of stray sandals kept her feet from touching the cold stone floor.

"I did." Anna sighed. "You really should learn to pay attention. One of these days, some guy will walk here in and take you for ransom, or worse some assassin will come here." Anna let out a quiet sigh at the end of her sentence.

"Sorry, I've just been thinking." Ruby closed her book. "I guess I'll give my now cold breakfast Kelley seeing how you've brought me lunch. She'll eat it no matter how cold it gets." Ruby laughed, as did Anna.

"Akara has been waiting outside. I'm sensing that she might want to talk with you, but just doesn't know how to approach you." Ann alerted Ruby.

"Send her in; I'll see what she wants." Ruby said as she slowly lifted the silver top of the tray that was left on her desk while Anna took the untouched breakfast out.

"Akara, if you want to talk with Ruby, then by all means please enter." Anna told Akara as she walked by.

Akara slowly got up the courage to go and talk with Ruby.

"Anna tells me that you wanted to talk with me. Is that true?" Ruby asked kindly setting her book down. She lifted the silver top off of the tray she had been given by Anna revealing a finely cut turkey sandwich with a light sauce and a bowl of soup, steam gently rose from the bowl. A small cup of tea accompanied the meal along with a small note, which Ruby quickly read.

"Sort of. I get the feeling that you and Hellstorm know each other well. From what I've seen, you're on equal terms with him." Akara stated. "I've never known a princess, demon or human, to be on equal terms with many people."

"If what your asking is do I have a relationship with Hellstorm, then the answer is no, at least not yet. I recruited for a mission yesterday. I had never met him before hand, I've only heard rumors." Ruby explained.

"Oh, that's good to hear." Akara smiled.

"That does not mean that I'm not going to try and get to know him." Ruby added. "I have grown to love the legend the people call Hellstorm, but now I wish to see if he is equally worthy of my love just as the figure of the legend is."

"Then I guess I have some competition." Akara stated as she took a seat. "So, how are we going to go about choosing who gets Hellstorm? He would make the perfect father."

"Do anything you wish other then use your powers. No magic, no demon arts. Hellstorm has informed me of the fact that you are a Lamia and I do not intend to harm you if you behave yourself." Ruby kindly explained.

"Hellstorm told you that and your okay with me being what I am?" Akara asked confused.

"I have more important things to worry about then a single demon trying to win the heart of another. Besides, it will take a lot of time for him to even think about love after what he went through." Ruby picked up her knife and cut the sandwich she had in two. "Would you like to try some? My cook, Maria thinks she may have found a fancy new sauce."

"You are a princess and yet you eat like commoners, a sandwich and soup." Akara was surprised. "In the demon world, royalty only eat the best of the best food, not such things as this." Akara was slightly confused at how different things were between her world and the human one with which she had only spent a few years on.

"I eat almost everything my cook serves. Every time she makes a new dish, I am willing to try it. And that is just what this sandwich has on it, one of her new recipes." Ruby slowly raised the sandwich half to her mouth and gently bit down. The meat was very tender and did not take long to chew. It was well cooked; seemingly falling apart before she could even chew and the light sauce was amazing. It added sweetness to the meat while also bringing out the best of the meat. It also gave the sandwich a slightly spicy taste. "This is nice. I do like the selection of spices she used. You should really try it." Ruby said before taking another bite.

"Very well, I shall." Akara took the second half of the sandwich that Ruby had offered her. Akara however was not a fan of spicy things, but she still had to complement the sweet taste it had. "Now you mention earlier that you know something about Hellstorm's past. Will you tell me what you know?" Akara asked.

Ruby told Akara most of what she had seen in the bathing area earlier that morning leaving out a few key facts like Arceus.

"So, that is why he trust's me enough to let me travel with him." Akara had a reasonable explanation for Hellstorm's of demons now. "This could play to my advantage." Akara looked up suddenly as though she had heard something.

"What is it?" Ruby asked upon seeing Akara suddenly start looking around.

"I heard something. It sounded like blast of air, but not quite a natural blast. It had a slight magical ring to it." Akara said.

"Magical ring to it?" Ruby was confused, how one could hear magic itself.

"A few demons can hear magic such as Lamias, but there are a few born every thousand years that can even see magic in its pure form. While I can't see it, I certainly can hear it. It sounded like it came for Hellstorm's room." Akara said as she walked toward the door.

"And how would you know where his room is. I don't recall ever giving you a tour." Ruby covered up her soup as she followed Akara down the hall. "Did one of my servants show you around?"

"Last night, when I went to sleep, I used a demon art call Shadow Walk. It lets me walk around an area with out a body. I can't go very far and I can't interact with the real world or pass through objects, but I still managed to get a good look around. I must say, you do have some fine taste in wines and art." Akara completed Ruby as they walked along.

"Thank you, but I would prefer if you didn't use your demon arts while you were here." Ruby explained as they walked down the hall to Hellstorm's room.

"There's that sound again. It's really close by." Akara warned Ruby.

Ruby opened the door and saw a man standing over Hellstorm with a knife in his hand. The man was dressed in all black clothing, his face covered by a black mask. With a quick flick of her wrist, a knife flew out of Ruby's sleeve and into her waiting hand. "That's a risky move, attacking a target in broad daylight." Ruby threw the knife before she flicked her wrist again resulting in a second knife shooting from her sleeve and into her hand.

The knife passed threw the assailant like they had never been there. A dark mist dripped down from where he was hit showing that he was not entirely solid.

"I am the Hunter of the Winds. Such simple tricks won't work on me." The man said. Akara quickly chanted a spell as the man threw the knife over his head getting ready to strike. Ruby jumped toward him only to fly threw him much like her knife had and landed on Hellstorm. The blade the assassin had flashed quickly as it went from a simple single edge curved knife to a thin, long dagger that would easily pierce Ruby's body to get to Hellstorm's. Hellstorm opened his eyes as Ruby landed on him; the first thing he saw was the knife. He rolled over flipping on top of Ruby as the knife came down. The knife dug into Hellstorm's shoulder.

Once again a bright green light engulfed Hellstorm, the light spread over to Ruby as the two suddenly vanished along with the knife just in time for Akara to finish chanting her spell. The small blue orb of ice passed cleanly through the man before freezing most of the wall behind the man.

xXx

Lair of the Riftwalker…

A strong wind blew in the desert that Ruby and Hellstorm landed in. Blood dripped from the wound on Hellstorm's shoulder as he looked around. Although, he had no pants, he did not seem to care. Ruby could not believe her eyes. They were just in her manor and now they were in some wasteland with nothing around. The heat quickly got her to start sweating.

"These winds need to stop." Hellstorm shouted as he raised his hand to the winds covering his eyes.

"I don't think the wind will listen to you." Ruby said as a large amount of sand still kept flying about. The sounds of the wind died as the sand quickly made its way to the ground. Hellstorm fell down on to one of his knees.

"I think the knife severed one of my major arteries." Hellstorm looked at the amount of blood flowing form his arm.

"Arteries?" It took a few seconds for Ruby to recall what the word meant. "Oh, yea, arteries." Ruby remembered her teaching as a princess. She was gifted with a few powerful healing magics and her parents, the king and queen had hired the best doctors and mages to teach her how to master these healing arts to best degree that she could. "Any idea where we are?" Ruby asked ripping off a piece of her dress to try and bandaged the wound. Ruby then placed her hands on Hellstorm's wounded shoulder as a light blue mist covered Hellstorm's arm. The entire arm went numb as the mist slowly worked its way over the arm and into the wound.

"Home." Hellstorm replied as he looked around. "This place is my copy of what my home looks like."

"This desert, but I don't see anything." Ruby said as she removed her arms from Hellstorm's shoulder. Hellstorm just pointed off into the distance.

"The Plateau is that way." Hellstorm slowly got, the heat was nothing to him, but it could easily kill Ruby if she stayed out in the heat too long.

"Is this the Lair of the Riftwalker?" Ruby asked wiping a large sum of sweat off her head.

"Most likely." Hellstorm said as he started to walk to where he had thrown the knife. Hellstorm felt strangely weak as he walked. His vision was just slightly blurry. He lifted up the blade. "I think this blade was poisoned." Hellstorm said handed the blade to Ruby. Ruby took the blade as she began to wipe some more sweat from her head. Hellstorm saw this and closed his eyes. "I wish it to be night with a moon in the sky." Hellstorm whispered under his breath.

The sun was replaced by a full moon in less then a second. The sudden drop in the temperature caught both of them off guard even though Hellstorm was expecting. He did however realize just how fast this would come to pass.

Hellstorm walked in the direction he had pointed. It only took less then an hour of walking, but they finally ended up at the base of the plateau. Its sand covered sides helped it to blend in perfectly with the rest of the desert from afar, but it was easy to identify up close. Hellstorm led Ruby up the winding path that lead up the plateau. There were no tents or anything really on the plateau surface, just an empty terrace. Hellstorm managed to make it to the top before he collapsed. His vision was slightly blurred, but he could still make out the caves.

The poison in him was working fast. "Hellstorm, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"I have a strong weakness to poisons. If I don't find a cure soon, I could die." Hellstorm replied. Ruby still had the poisoned knife and once again took a look at it trying to figure out kind of poison had infected Hellstorm. Hellstorm looked back up and tried to stand only to fail instead collapsing to the ground.

"Now we can't have this. A dead Riftwalker is a worthless Riftwalker. " A voice rang out from all directions.

"Who's there?" Ruby called out trying to find the source of this strange new voice. If this was the Lair of the Riftwalker, then only those invited by the Riftwalker themselves should be here.

"Lucky for you that you made it here." The voice continued. "Unfortunately, even the gods can't do too much to help you in the real world, but here, we can do quite a lot."

"Who are you?" Hellstorm asked weakly trying to get up. He made it to a sitting position using his arms to keep himself up when a figure grew out of the sand.

"I am God of Space, my name is Palkia. I just choose to use this human body for now, as I truly do not like the desert. I dislike the heat of such places." A tall human stood before Ruby and Hellstorm, his skin was slightly pink and he had a pair of very large pink stones growing out of his shoulders. He wore a large white shirt and matching pants, but the sands seemed to pass through his.

"I meant to come and see you last time you were here, but I was preoccupied at the time. Anyway, I have two things for you." A large stone slab materialized out of the sands around him and landed gently in his hands. The nineteen open slots in the stone were easy to see. The second was a small vile of red liquid. "I'm sure you recognize this stone as Ruby has showed you a picture of it before. And this is a very powerful cure to all poisons. Drink this and all poisons will be cleared out of your body." The man handed the vial to Hellstorm, but before he could even open it, the vial shattered, the red liquid fell to ground quickly being absorbed by the sands.

"You can't give him that." A second voice rang out, this one belonging to a female. "You forget about his adaptations, he is from a desert planet and has a higher temperature then most. That potion's secondary side effect is a decrease in body heat." A woman stepped forth from the cave system. "If you going to give him anything, give him this."

The young lady looked to be in her early thirties at the most. Her soft, sweet blue eyes and voice gave her the feel of angle to a degree. She had long hair a light blue in color that was braided, the end of it coming down past her waist. She wore a slightly demonic dress, while white in color, there was a dark spider wed like design woven into it. She stood up about Ruby's height, smiling as she looked down at Hellstorm.

"So, this is my next master." She held out her arm as a large sum of sand from a bowl in front of her. Her eyes went red as the sand heated up, giving off a soft white glow. When the glow had faded away, a glass bowl was left behind. The lady lifted her left wrist above the bowl and using a nail on her other arm, she cut away a small piece of skin and let some of her blue blood collect in the bowl. The wound, despite being rather shallow, let out a fair amount of blood before it seemed to heal over leaving no signs of the wound behind.

"I've never known you to give out such a gift so willing before." Palkia said clearly amazed by what the woman was doing.

"He has much to live for and I think he's done enough to earn my respect. I've looked into his past, he has earned this for now, but he'll have to earn it again now that I have a chance to get to know him." The woman picked the glass bowl up out of the air and took a seat next to Hellstorm. "Please drink this. My blood will easily clear your body of that poison."

"I'm no vampire." Hellstorm objected.

"Please, drink. It's my gift to you. Besides, it's the only thing right now that can clear you of that poison. I haven't had a chance to make any potions as of yet." The woman once again presented her blood to him. Hellstorm thought about it and realized that right now, his choices were limited. He had to do something or he could never save his pack or Sora from the demons of his time. Although he did not fear death, he still had a job that needed to be done. He reluctantly took the bowl from the woman and sipped the blue blood that seemed to still be a perfect liquid even though a several seconds had passed.

Hellstorm felt his strength return as he slowly sipped the blood. He felt a slight sadness build up in heart. He a loss in his heart, he would sometimes find himself doing this exact action for Sora. He was more then kind enough to give Sora a small sum of his blood when she needed it. Even though he would offer her his blood, she was always very cautious never to take more than a mouthful at most, but most of the time, it was just a few drops here and there when no other blood was available. Although she did need blood, she rarely took it from the pack or even Hellstorm who willing gave her small amounts of his blood. She would often join the hunting raids when the desert worms were in the area. She would store the blood from the worm and drink that to keep herself alive. One thought led to another as he remembered the day that she had saved him from one of the great worms.

A sudden explosion of sand in the distance caught everyone's attention. Hellstorm had failed to realize it, but he subconsciously summoned forth the worm from his memories. The large scaled worm flew up into the air coming back down forming a wide arc. Even thought it was still far off, everyone could still see that it was huge. It took several minutes before it was completely back under ground. If not for the occasional fin that had passed by on the worm, it would have looked like the worm was just standing still in that one position. After it surfaced the one time, it seemed to fade away. It did not resurface and was quickly forgotten.

The woman went to say something, but Palkia hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there. Those memories are what keep him going. I hate to say it, but they are his only reason for living right. He would willing accept death and does not fear it, but still, he continues to move forward."

The woman removed Palkia's hand. "I still say…" Once again she found Palkia's hand over her mouth.

"Save those words for when he is not around." Palkia warned his voice quite firm.

"So, now that I can think clearly again, who are you?" Hellstorm asked the woman now that he was finally able to stand. He was still a bit dizzy, but that feeling was fading fast. He picked up the stone slab he was given by Palkia and the three orbs in Hellstorm's possession appeared around his waste. There were the wind and water orbs plus a solid silver orb. It was of flawless design and looked lit it would weigh a lot, but to Hellstorm, it was weightless.

"I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. My purpose is to help you and care for this place and any others that you have here. When I have no master, I seal myself away waiting for my next master to arrive." Solana bowed her head as she introduced herself. "I would have greeted you last time, but it's been over a millennium since I was last awake. It took me a while to gather my thoughts and remember what was going on. Normally, I'll sleep for just a hundred years before the next one of you show up." Solana explained.

Hellstorm looked at the stone slab he had wondering if there was a specific order or place for each of the elemental orbs. "If you're here to help me Solana, then tell me, how this stone works." Hellstorm asked.

"The middle ring is for the 6 primary elements that make up this world, earth, fire, wind, water, light, and darkness. The outer ring is for the other twelve elements. As for the one in the middle, that one you must fill on your own. It is one of many trails you will have to face to become a true Crimson Warrior."

"In that case, Water goes here, wind goes here, and steel goes here." Hellstorm placed his three into the stone slab. He placed the water and wind orbs next to each other in the center ring the steel ring the opposite side of the outer ring.

"Shouldn't we be finding a way out of here soon? I think we left Akara alone with that assassin." Ruby spoke up.

"Time does not pass here. I was here for a few hours last time and time had barely moved a minute in the real world." Hellstorm explained. "Besides, I have questions for the two of you." Hellstorm held the stone slab while looking at Solana and Palkia. A pillar slowly grew up at Hellstorm's feet; the top of it was perfectly fitted for the stone slab.

"I'm sorry; I was just told by Arceus that I am needed. If you have any questions about me, Solana should be able to answer them." Palkia seemed to turn to sand and fell the ground, the grains scattering left and right.

"Please forgive Palkia; he was never really good with manners." Solana said as she stepped forward. Three small chunks of earth rose out of the ground moving about like a liquid, each one forming a chair. "I guess I should properly introduce myself. As I said, I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. In terms of power here, I share all of your powers of command here like controlling the land around us." Solana took a seat motioning for Ruby and Hellstorm to do the same.

Hellstorm remained standing, but Ruby did take a seat. "My job here is to help make sure that you secede in your mission and to guide you through time to the next point that needs saving. I'm also in charge of making sure that you pass the trials that are to come." Solana continued.

Solana's calm look suddenly left her face as a serious one replaced it. The very sky looked like it was made of glass that was quickly being shattered. "Some one's trying to break you out of here. I would return to whence you came at once." Solana said, "This place is still not the perfect defense, a powerful summons can sometimes fracture the barrier here and then the storm of time can ravage this land." Solana clapped her hands as the Gates of Time just appeared into the area like they had always been there. "Return them from whence they came." The vines moved aside granting entry to the swirling vortex that would let them travel back to the manor.

"How do I get back here?" Hellstorm asked.

"There are a few ways. The first way is like you have been getting here so far, a self defense mechanism that automatically triggered the last two times you were in danger of dying, the other way is by a spell. However, it's up to you to find the spell. I can tell you that it is easy to find if you look." Solana vanished in a flash as she went to deal with the fracturing shield that kept this place outside time.

Hellstorm and Ruby walked through the Vortex. Time swirled them as they returned to the manor.

xXx

The Manor…

Akara quickly moved to avoid another knife. The assassin seemed to have an endless number of them and he threw them with expert precision, each knife draining a minor amount of her energy. Akara already had several minor cuts on her body. She had tried several times counter attack, but to no avail. Either her attacks would pass through him without doing anything or he would avoid them by jumping around the room. Each time a knife hit the wall, it would seem to melt away in a plume of black smoke that always returned to the assassin. Akara fell over as she tripped over a chunk of ice that had formed from one of her failed attacks. The assassin took one last knife and threw it at Akara as she stood back up. She had been fighting alone for the last minute and between the number of knives that had hit her and the amount of energy she used for attacks; she was suddenly forced back into her natural body, her tail extending outwards the full twenty feet and weaving around anything in its path. The knife flew fast heading straight for her head. She feared the worse.

A sudden flash of green broke the air between Akara and the knife. Hellstorm dropped out of the sudden flash of light, the dagger striking the jewel on his forward. The knife bounce up and Hellstorm grabbed the weapon before anyone could even register him being there. With one quick spin of his body, Hellstorm released the knife with much greater force then the assassin had been using. Instead of the usual black mist had seen when a physical attack him the assassin, a red blood like mist erupted from the point where the knife had struck. The assassin fell to his knees before he began to sink into the floor. His body turned to a black mist with traces of red in it as it suddenly jumped back the mist flowing through the cracks of the imperfect seal around the window. The knife hit the far wall hard imbedding itself several inches into the wall.

Victor charged in without his cloak, his muscular stood out as he had the body of some sort of muscle man. Large arms, well built chest, there was no doubt he could lift his own weight many times over. "What happened here?" He demanded before noticing Akara. If not for the fact that she was in her demon form, he wouldn't have cared for her, but seeing a demon got his attention real fast. "Lady Ruby, I'll save you." Victor charged Akara, but Hellstorm intercepted him.

"She's with me." Hellstorm stood once again between Akara and harm for a second time in a matter of in minutes.

"Victor, calm yourself. I know what she is and I understand that she is Hellstorm's traveling companion. You will still treat her as a guest. Understand?" Rudy gave Victor her orders and Victor bowed.

A scroll dropped from Victor's pocket. It unrolled itself at Hellstorm's feet. The large banners that lined both sides of the scroll indicated that this scroll was marking an upcoming tournament. "What's this?" Hellstorm held up the scroll.

"That is an invitation for Lady Ruby. She has been invited to the next Royal Tournament. Her parents are looking for some new knights. Even though only one can win the bags of gold that they have offered as a prize, they will accept at least four good people to become knights. However, if they find more then four good people, they may increase that number. They are also looking for a new Pokemon to become guards and watchmen of the royal family." Victor explained, his eyes never leaving Akara.

"Is this an open invitation or invite only to enter." Hellstorm asked.

"For the human side, only those with an invite or referral from one of the Royal Families may enter. As for the beast side though, any trainer may enter their beast. The trainer will be moved to the castle for training if their Pokemon manage to make the cut." Victor contented.

"This could prove to my advantage. But I'll need someone to enter me into the tournament." Hellstorm lowered his head to think.

"I could get you in, but why would you want to enter?" Ruby asked.

"If I were to enter, it would give me access to the castle. I would then be able to search the grounds freely. When I first showed up here, I thought I sensed an orb around the castle." Hellstorm explained. "Also, it would be a good cover for my staying here and I would not have to waste magic on keeping a human body."

"Very well, then I shall enter you into the tournament. Let's hope that you make it in." Ruby walked over to Hellstorm.

"With my skills, I doubt I can lose." Hellstorm pointed out.

"Not all of the Pokemon who have entered in the past were by any means normal. People have been known to raise… unusual Pokemon and bring them in." Ruby was what word would best be suited for her description.

"Unusual? What does that mean?" Hellstorm asked.

"I'm not sure how to describe it. You'll have to see it for yourself if Lord Nihlia brings her breeder with her this year." Ruby said.

"Your father always sends an invitation out to her and she always accepts." Victor said.


	5. The King and Queen

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'Poketalk'

(Character Thoughts)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 5: The King and Queen

The Jetek Castle was one of the largest out of all six kingdoms. It was a quite uneventful five day ride to the castle in which everyone had a chance to take it easy. Ruby had chosen to take the large carriage due to the fact that Akara, Victor, and Justin were all accompanying Ruby and Hellstorm to castle. Three additional Rapidash were called in to assist Joey in pulling the carriage on the five day trip. The assassin from before was no where to be seen. Hellstorm was quite most of the trip, but he did answer some of the questions Ruby asked him and did ask a few of his own on occasion.

Finally, in the late afternoon of the fifth day of travel, the Jetek Castle came into view over the top of the light forest canopy. At first there was just a single small flagpole, the one that topped the Arcane Tower of the castle. The flag was a dark blue in color marked with a ring of six golden circles over a pair of large blades. By far the tallest tower of the castle, this undecorated stone tower stood up a few hundred feet into the air. From the top of this tower, a person could see most of the kingdom. The next tower to come into view was the keep itself. The keep was a large square stone structure. It housed the entire royal family and most of the servants. It also housed the Throne Room and many other important rooms of the castle. Several large banners were mounted on the sides of the keep, each one adorned with the symbol of the Jetek Kingdom. The last thing to come into view before the walls of the castle was the four large circular towers in each corner of the castle. These towers held the first defenses against invading forces, although such things were rarely used. Just like with the keep, four large banners also bearing the symbol of the Jetek Kingdom were hung from the sides of these towers.

Akara looked on in awe; this castle was even bigger then most demonic castles. She wore a dress that Ruby had let her use for the arrival. It was large, just slightly too big for her, but still, the light blue silken cloth easily brought out her human side. Ruby just welcomed the sight with a warm smile. She had even gotten a little dressed up for the occasion, which was rare for her. She wore a dress like those that female pirates would wear, enough to show her body's curves and figure, but also cover her properly all while giving the wearer full mobility should events take a turn for the worst. Although similar to a pirates dress, this dress was much fancier, being made of a fine dark blue silk with the emblem of her kingdom embedded into it along side a few diamonds that lined the collar. Justin sat like always with his eyes closed meditating, his wizardry robes were still and unmoving even with the slight shaking of the carriage whenever it would hit a bump. Hellstorm broke the silence complete removing his cloak and setting it to the side.

"Since we are so close to the castle, I have something I think I should explain. I think the best way to me to introduce the two of you to my parents is to claim that the man from the stories, Hellstorm the human, left you in my care, Hellstorm. As for Akara, she was Hellstorm's traveling companion, but chooses to stay and help me with the mansion. By claiming that both of you were trained by Hellstorm, both of you should be able to use some of you magic and demon arts without too much worry as long as you don't go overboard with them." Ruby explained her plan to hide the truth from her parents. "They should even welcome Akara if she has some proof of being associated with Hellstorm."

"That part is easy." Hellstorm said taking off his wristwatch and grabbing one of the curtains that were hung around the inside of the carriage. He wrapped the watch up in the red curtain and placed both hands on the curtain. The small bundle of cloth sparked as it took a new form. Instead of band that was to be placed on someone's wrist, the watch was now attached to a long red collar. "This watch or the gem people mistake it for is how I've proved my identity as Hellstorm before. I use it as proof that I'm me, but I've also used to it so show that I work for the legend everyone claims is human when it plays to my advantage not to be me much like it would be right now." Hellstorm picked up the collar and placed it around his neck. The collar fit nicely and gently around Hellstorm's neck giving him more then enough room to breathe, the watch placed in front for everyone to see. Form the angle at which the watch was positioned, it looked like it was nothing more then just a large sapphire. "Justin, may I borrow a few gems from that bag you brought with you. I'll trade a fair sum of gold for the gems I take."

Justin never opened his eyes, but he did toss the bag over to Hellstorm who took out four small sapphires. "How much for the gems?" Hellstorm asked as he removed a second curtain from the other side of the carriage.

"Those are free. I'm only giving them to you because Ruby has confirmed that you are in fact Hellstorm." Justin replied. "If you were not, I would not even consider giving them to you." His voice showed that he was slightly irritated.

"Justin, calm down. I know that you may not share my views on Pokemon, but that is no reason why you can show Hellstorm some respect." Ruby alerted Justin.

"While I'm here, I want you to call me Varwaz. It's the name my mother said she would have given me if I was not given the name Hellstorm." Hellstorm pulled a hand of silver coins out of his moneybag and placed them in the curtain with the four sapphires. Just like before, he placed both of his hands on the bundle and the bundle sparked before it changed. Instead of collar like the one had made for himself, Hellstorm had made a necklace for Akara. The large sapphire pendant would stand as her connection to Hellstorm while the chain was made of cloth with streaks of silver woven into it giving it an added strength. Hellstorm presented the amulet to Akara who was just as surprised as Ruby to see how finely crafted the amulet was. "It's not a perfect fusion, I still have trouble fusing metals into other objects, but it should last for the time we are here." Hellstorm told them.

The carriage passed through the town that surrounded the castle. Several people waved and warmly greeted the carriage, a few even made attempts to offer gifts, but Ruby did not care. She was just happy enough with being home again.

The carriage quickly came up to the reinforced wooden gates of the castle. There was no moat; instead, the castle had been built on a small hill that had been reshaped to fit for the castle. There were only four ways to pass the castle walls. The first was by air, the second by the tunnels, and the last two were the two sets of gates, the back gate on the south end of the castle and the main gate to the north. The lowered gate acted as a ramp for the carriage. Many people cleared out of the way for the carriage to pass. Hellstorm looked in surprise. Sure there was a large fancy town outside the castle walls, but it looked like the real heart of the city was hidden away inside the castle. There was a full blown market area, two or three separate stables, a small farm that grew the finer herbs and spices used by the chefs in the castle, and finally, there was the keep. Several other various wooden and a few stone structures filled the area as the carriage approached the castle. For that matter, the castle itself could have been a town at one point. As the carriage approached a large set of wooden doors, not even half as big as the main gate, but still just as strong, a call was sounded.

"Princess Ruby has arrived, open the gate." One of the guards that had been walking along the top of the walk shouted out to whoever was below. The gates quickly opened as the carriage drew closer granting it access to the keep. The gates closed behind them. The finely placed brick road led up to the keep before looping around into itself. There was a separate stable here for the royal mounts and Hellstorm could even see a few of the royal carriages, each one marked by the same emblem that signified the kingdom. Several guards were posted by the keep doors as two figures appeared. The first was tall man; his shiny plate armor gleamed in the bright sunlight. He had dark blue eyes and a slight beard. He walked proudly, a smile across his face. The sword by his side and crown on his head proved that this man was the king. Beside him, wearing a large silken dress was the queen. Her headpiece although not as fancy as the king's was still quite lovely. Her ruby eyes matched her red hair that came down past her shoulders. The king and queen were both happy to once again see their daughter. The carriage stopped just as it began to follow the loop back into the road. A single guard ran forward, but unlike the others, he wore leather armor rather then plate with a pair of knifes on his belt rather then a sword or spear.

This guard opened the door and stepped aside. Ruby was the first one out, the young man offered his hand to assist and Ruby took it kindly. Akara was next out and just like before, the young man extended his hand. Next was Hellstorm, he jumped out and took his place next to Ruby. He carried his Etherian Cloak in his hand. Lastly, Justin came out. "I'll be taking my leave. The guards should be able to handle your safety now." Justin just walked off for the keep while Victor led the carriage to where the others were stored.

"My daughter Ruby, it has been a long time. I see you have new friends bearing sapphires, a rare jewel in our land. Please introduce us." The king came forward, his queen walking with him. The kingdom was Jetek was never known to have any sapphire mines, which is why the king was so quick to notice the blue gemstones around Hellstorm and Akara's necks.

"Father, I missed you." Ruby came up and hugged her father who stood about four inches taller then she did. "I bring good news. I've finally met the one called Hellstorm." Ruby began her story.

"You have, have you?" The queen asked stepping forward. Ruby hugged her mother standing about the same height as she stood.

"Hellstorm himself has trained Varwaz here, one of his prized Pokemon. And this is Akara." Ruby introduced Hellstorm as Varwaz just like he asked as well as introducing Akara. "Akara was Hellstorm's traveling partner, but decided that she wished to take her own path in life much like I have. As for Varwaz, he wishes to compete in the coming tournament. Hellstorm saw no reason to deny him the right to lead his own path in life." Ruby explained.

"Very well, it is almost time for supper. You can tell us more about Hellstorm then. For now, come. Let us introduce you to a few new faces around the castle starting with Leroy." The king turned and pointed to the guard from before who bowed upon being introduced. The king then led the way to the keep. Ruby walked with her mother one side talking about current and coming events while Hellstorm took note of things as he walked on her other side. He could once again feel the power of an orb but could not track it or tell which orb he had found. He had his work cut out for him.

xXx

Later that day at the grand dinning chamber…

Now that it was just the family and a few select others, everyone had dressed more casually. They sat at a large rectangular table. Several large plates were placed along the table with varying dishes. Some had pork, others had fish, and a few full of nothing but berries for the Pokemon who had been allowed to come to meal. In total there were three humans, Ruby, King Mark, and Queen Kristen, one demon posing as a human, Akara, and four Pokemon including Hellstorm. The other three all Vulpix.

"So, tell us about this Hellstorm. Is he really what the legends say he is?" Mark asked.

"Form what I saw; he was that and so much more. I offered him a magical orb I found to investigate the attacks around my manor after I hired a wizard to look into them." Ruby began.

"Really?" Kristen asked taking a small serving or pork.

"Yes, a demon had attacked the villages. Hellstorm took out that demon in just one night. Akara was his witness." Ruby continued. "Since then, the attacks have stopped."

"I was wondering about that. It does explain why the village guards could not stop the attacker." Mark said passing the pork to Hellstorm. "Here you Varwaz. For a Pokemon, you sure do seem to have some manners. No doubt Hellstorm taught you such things."

"That is correct." Hellstorm replied as he help his plate out for the pork he was offered.

"Anyway, I'd like to ask about the tournament that is coming up. As I said earlier, Varwaz would like to enter." Ruby changed the topic.

"A toast… to my early successful return." A loud voice rang out from the main door. A man in his thirties stood by the door, a wineglass in his hand that was just barely filled. He wore fine blue shirt, long blue pants, and had a short sword on his belt. "I come bearing good news." The man shouted causing everyone to turn his way.

"Grant, you supposed to be in the Eastern Kingdom of Falstar." Mark turned with an unhappy look on his face.

"The negotiations are over, the war between Falstar and Mistvale are no longer at war and Mistvale has thanked us by offering us a large supply of herbs grown from their swamps, free of charge." The man walked forward grabbing a bottle wine and pouring everyone a cup of the red liquid.

"Grant, it has been a long time." Ruby nodded her toward the man.

"Eight years by my count. I'm glad to see that you're still doing well. Word has it that you met this one called Hellstorm." Grant poured Ruby the same small amount as everyone else.

"That I have. I even have two guests with me that used to travel with him." Ruby explained pointing toward Akara and Hellstorm.

"My name is Akara." Akara held her empty glass forward as Grant poured her some of the wine he seemed quite happy to share.

"And I am Varwaz. Hellstorm has trained me himself." Hellstorm nodded his head, but did not accept the wine that he was offered.

"A Lucario, rare in these parts. Still, no matter. Father, I have a second piece of wonderful news as well." Grant walked over to his father. "I have found the woman I wish to marry, Princess Angela of the Mistvale Kingdom, the daughter to King Turock. She'll be arriving here in a few weeks to meet the two of you." Grant held his glass high. "Let us toast to peace and my bride to be."

"It's about time you went about finding a wife." Kristen held her glass as well.

"I was beginning to think that you were never going to get married and our kingdom was to go without with a queen when I died." Mark mirrored his son's actions. Ruby did the same.

Grant led the talk for the rest of the night. Talk about Hellstorm seemed to have passed now that Grant was home.

(Perhaps the tales of Hellstorm are not so well known to the royal family. This could play to my benefit.) Hellstorm thought as he slowly ate the meal before.

--

Night came forth quickly over the castle. Ruby gave Hellstorm a personal tour of the castle. They passed though most of the castle before finally ending with the room where Hellstorm was to sleep which surprised Hellstorm. He was allowed to stay in Ruby's room for the night at her request. "Your bed is over here." Ruby's room was just as nice, but much bigger then the one at her mansion. Except for some added furniture which included a second small bed for private guests of Ruby's, a few more chairs, and a second desk, the room matched the one she had back at the manor perfectly down to the number painting hung about the room. The second bed was quite large, easily able to three or four people, but had no canopy like her own. "If you need anything, just ask. There is a bathing area over there." Ruby pointed to a door on the same side of the room, which to no surprise matched the one back at her manor. "The bathing area may not look like the one I had built, but it's just as nice and unlike the one at my manor, it is not shared by any other rooms in the castle." Ruby explained. She walked over to the dresser and began to pull off her pirate like dress.

"I'm feeling the presence of that orb again, but it feels like it's below us. How many levels of this castle are below ground?" Hellstorm asked placing a hand on the stone wall.

"To my knowledge, there are three levels above the ground and two below if you don't count the Well of Vision in the Arcane Tower. The well is located several dozen feet below the tower and is used by the mages here to help imbue their staves and other magical items with other magical powers." Ruby told Hellstorm about the well. "No one knows where the water comes from for the well, but the mages say that the well refills itself once every few months."

"It's possible that one of the Elemental Orbs may play a part in this. I'll have a look around tonight. I spent all night last night and part of this morning sleeping, so I'll be up for another day at least." Hellstorm explained.

"Be careful, just because you my guest does not mean that the guards will just let you through. Most of them view Pokemon as beasts, not as equals and I have no doubt that Sir Gallahad will not be pleased with fact that I have requested that you stay in my room." Ruby warned Hellstorm.

"One man will not be a problem to me." Hellstorm said as he took his cloak back out and began to put it on.

"Do not give him a reason to attack you. He will not waste it. He has had his eye on me from the day he first set foot in the castle and he will most likely not take kindly to you now that I have invited you to share my company." Ruby explained with slight hints of disgust. "He doesn't even see Pokemon as living creatures, only as tools to do what work humans command them to do. Hellstorm finished putting on his cloak the cloak began to weave itself into a lighter cloak, something used to keep one warm rather then to hide their face. "Please just avoid him if possible. He'll wear a sort of woven metal armor and carries a bow."

"I'll be back by morning and I'll do my best not to be seen." Hellstorm jumped up to the nearby window. Standing the window, he looked out at the courtyard. The guards each carried torches to light their way, which played to Hellstorm's advantage. Hellstorm jumped down and ran down the wall careful to make a little noise as possible.

Ruby watched but couldn't shake the feeling the something was going to happen. She tied her robe together as she headed over to her bed.

Hellstorm made his way to Arcane Tower. He wanted to see this tower for himself. The closer he got to the Arcane Tower however, the less he felt he magic orb. He moved quickly across the grass making almost no noise at all. The few noises he made were often mistaken for their own footsteps stepping on a twig. He was halfway to the Arcane to tower when he had to duck into a set of bushes, his cloak changed color and texture to match the leaves around his as a small Vulpix peered into the bushed. Unable to find anything, the small fire fox pulled his head out of the bushes. If not for the cloak, Hellstorm would have been discovered; his face was no more then a few inches away from the Vulpix's face.

Hellstorm waited for a few seconds before carefully making his way out of the bushes. He quickly made a dash for the last barrier between him and the tower that was his target. He jumped up and flipped himself over the short stone wall with his hands. Unlike the courtyard, there were no guards around the Arcane Tower; instead, several large orbs light up most of the area. Each orb appeared too made of magic and its only purpose was to light the area. Looking up toward the tower, Hellstorm saw a few mages walking around the top of the tower. Hellstorm thought his options over quickly and realized that while he could make it, there was still a fair chance of failure. There was too much light and not enough places to stop and hide. He would have to wait for another chance to look at the tower to safely get inside. Hellstorm jumped back over the wall and headed for one of the many doors that lead inside.

He made it inside without being seen and now that he was inside, he wouldn't have to hide as much, his sapphire pendant would serve as a pass to most of the castle right now, but he still opted for stealth while exploring in case something were to happen. His cloak wove itself into something a bit lighter, much like a standard traveler's cloak, it covered his shoulders and arms, but left a bit of space between the bottom to the cloak and the ground. If asked about it, he could truthfully say that it was just to keep him warm.

Hellstorm walked the stone halls, the lonely light coming from the lit torches. Only every other torch was lit, but it was still more then enough light to light up the halls to see and clearly make out objects, if only just to see them. There weren't too many decorations in the halls were Hellstorm was at right now, but this wasn't one of the main hallways. The low light levels suggested that many of the castle servants were already sleeping. Hellstorm continued to walk down the halls avoiding the occasional guard. Finally, Hellstorm made it to the main hall. Here he was caught by one of the guard.

"Who goes there at this hour?" The guard asked. He held his short sword at the ready, his plate armor slightly reflecting the light of the torches around him.

"I am Varwaz, a guest of Ruby. Here is my proof." Hellstorm moved his collar around so that the guard could see his sapphire that hung off of it.

"Very well, but it's very late. What are you doing up at this hour?" the guard asked.

"I couldn't sleep and decided to take a walk to clear my mind. I am a bit worried about the up coming tournament that I have entered." Hellstorm thought quickly making up a believable lie that would hopefully get the guard to leave him alone.

"Very well, just don't cause any trouble." The guard put away his blade and returned to post by the door. Hellstorm walked off again in search of the orb because he was once again feeling the presence of it, but he still could not tell which orb it was. All he knew is that it was in use, other wise he could not feel it. Hellstorm eventually found his way to the throne room where he felt the orb suddenly stop. (Guess I'll have to wait for it to start again.) Hellstorm turned and saw that he was being watched.

"So, you're the creature Ruby brought with her and let stay in her room." The man stood at least a foot taller then Hellstorm. His armor was different from the others, looking more like woven steel then a solid plate. He held a bow in one had and had a knife on his belt. The quiver on his back held only a portion of what it could really hold. "They say that you were trained by Hellstorm." The man said.

"I take it that you are this Sir Gallahad I was told about." Hellstorm asked.

"So, she does talk about me. I knew she liked me." The man smiled.

"She warned me to steer clear of you and on that note, I'll take my leave and return to her room." Hellstorm went to walk past him, but Gallahad held out his bow blocking his path.

"Don't go lying to me. Tell me, what did she really say about me. I know she's just trying to play hard to get." Gallahad asked.

"Just like I told you, she warned me to stay clear of you. She didn't say anything about liking you and from the way she warned me about, she doesn't like you."

"How dare you say that she does not like me?" Gallahad drew his knife.

"I see why she warned me about." Hellstorm kept his eyes on the knife.

"What you are you implying?" Gallahad demanded. "Are you saying that she would rather marry another? No one else is worthy of her love."

"Her life is her own. She may love anyone she wishes." Hellstorm countered.

"I'll cut out your tongue if you fail to back down." Gallahad prepared to strike.

"I'm going back to Ruby's room. Hopefully, this will be our only meeting." Hellstorm turned and walked toward the door.

"Oh no, your going to sleep with the rest of your kind. To the stables." Gallahad charged forward, his knife ready to strike. Hellstorm jumped back and prepared to counter strike. Gallahad thrust the knife at Hellstorm for a second time and Hellstorm deflected the blade with an open paw slamming the blade to the side just as Ruby walked in.

"Gallahad, stop right now." Ruby shouted. "I came down this way for a cup of tea to calm my nerves and I find you trying to kill my guest." A few other guards had walked in to see what was going on.

"He struck me first." Gallahad shouted. "How could you even consider letting such a thing into your quarters. You hardly knew it. How could you trust it?"

"His name is Varwaz." Ruby shouted. "And he would not attack without reason."

"If I may, Gallahad here attacked first. He was not happy with the fact that you let me share your room while I was here and tried to forcefully send me to the stables." Hellstorm told his side of the story.

"Come Varwaz, let's go." Ruby turned and Hellstorm followed her back to her room.

Gallahad cursed Hellstorm as he left with Ruby and began to plot ways to deal with him. No one was going to show him up like that and get away with it. "All you, return to your posts at once." Gallahad shouted to the guards around him.

The guards quickly ran off back to their post for fear that they would have to deal with Gallahad's rage.

"I told you to avoid him for fear that this might happen." Ruby told Hellstorm as they walked.

"He blocked my path as I tried to leave." Hellstorm explained.

Gallahad followed the two far enough behind them so that he wouldn't be heard or seen, but he could still hear them.

"Also, I think that the orb I'm looking is somewhere near the throne room. That's where I felt it the strongest before the feeling just faded away." Hellstorm continued. "What rooms are around the throne room?"

"The treasure vault is just below the throne room, perhaps the orb is down there just mistaken as some sort of gemstone." Ruby explained.

(Orb? What orb? What are they talking about?) Gallahad asked himself. (What has this thing done to you?)


	6. Let the Tournament Begin

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'Poketalk'

(Character Thoughts)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 6: Let the Tournament Begin

The next few days provided little chance for Hellstorm to look around. Sir Gallahad was almost always keeping an eye on him Ruby in some way or another making it impossible for Hellstorm to explore the castle. Hellstorm however wouldn't say anything because right now, Gallahad had the advantage being a castle guard. Many people began to arrive at the castle including some higher ranking people from neighboring kingdoms.

Many people came to the castle bearing armor and foreign emblems, all of which wanting to become a knight or just grab that big bag of gold that was the prize money. Many trainers also came forth and even a few breeders who thought that their Pokemon would make an excellent guard. Everyone who came to castle came for one reason, the upcoming tournament. Time seemed to pass quickly at castle now that everyone was there. The castle was full with people and the stables were filled with Pokemon. A few for their Pokemon and share a room with them much like how Ruby shared a room with Hellstorm.

Finally, after days of waiting, the tournament would begin. The arena was set up on the edge of the castle. The large open area had a moat around its outer most edge; several large stones placed randomly around the arena, and had large very thick stone walls that served to keep damage to a minimum. As an added precaution, the mages were all instructed to place a powerful barrier around the arena to deal with any stray attacks the Pokemon might use.

Everything was in place. "The first match starts at noon today. You'll be in the second match facing off against one of Lunastrain trainers." Ruby informed Hellstorm as they walked to the arena. "I assume you won't need a human partner to keep an eye on things for you."

"No, I do not believe that will be necessary." Hellstorm replied as he walked alongside Ruby to the combatants waiting area.

There were many Pokemon with trainers there all waiting to prove themselves in combat.

'_I can't wait to test my skills in combat.'_ A large Nidoking said as Hellstorm took a seat by himself in the corner of the ring.

Almost everyone here was raised for combat and a few were barking threats at each other all waiting for a chance to show off their skills.

"I'll be watching your match the most. I can't wait to see how good you are." Ruby said as she turned to leave.

Many trainers just eyed Hellstorm. "What's this thing over here?" One, young male asked.

"No way is he here to compete. He doesn't even have a trainer to tell him how to fight." A second one, this time female commented.

"I need no trainer. I can think on my own." Hellstorm replied.

"Hold on, look at the collar. How many people use the sapphire in collars?" The rest of the trainers looked toward the voice. An older male dressed in black down with a Nidoking on his left and a female Lucario on his right. "If I had to guess, this one was trained by Hellstorm. He's the only one I can think of who uses sapphires for anything bigger then a ring without using some sort of insignia considering how rare they are."

A man walked in and called out the name "Hector, get ready." The older male realized he was being called and led the large purple Nidoking out into the arena. As he left, the female Lucario walked up to Hellstorm.

'_The unmarked sapphire is the symbol Hellstorm. Were you really trained by him?'_ The female Lucario had a large jade color around her neck showing that she was a pet and not a fighter.

'_Yes I was. I assume you are here for support or something seeing that collar around your neck.'_ Hellstorm replied.

'_My master brought me here for my skill in medicine. I'm here to make sure his Pokemon stay healthy.'_ She told him.

'_It's not a common thing for Pokemon to go into medicine in this time.'_ Hellstorm commented.

'_My master is kind to me. He saw I had a natural talent with mixing herbs and salves and he helped me increase my knowledge.'_ She explained. _'You seem really nice. My name's Imoen.'_

'_My name is Varwaz. It's good to see that there are more then just a few select individuals who see our kind as more then beasts.'_ Hellstorm looked back to the door just in time to se the older male trainer walk back in with the Nidoking. The Nidoking had some bloody knuckles, but other then that, it did not seem to be hurt.

'_Excuse me for minute.'_ Imoen walked over to the Nidoking and her master.

"I see you've been trying to make a new friend." The older male said. "So, if my guess in right you've trained with the one called Hellstorm."

"That I have. He trained me and taught me a few moves he developed himself." Hellstorm answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I was informed that I'd be in the second battle."

Hellstorm was now able to get a good look at the man and judging by his worn cloak, he was not born into a wealthy family. He wore a black worn cloak used for traveling, and had a simple shirt and black pants. He must not have spent much time in towns because his hair was quite messy and he had started to grow a light beard. Imoen nodded her head at her master's comment about making friends.

The same man as before who called the first trainer now called out the name "Varwaz, get ready."

"I'll be back shortly." Hellstorm walked forward. He didn't know what to expect, but there were only a few things that could down him easily and he could more then defend himself against most other attacks.

Hellstorm had left his cloak behind, as he would not need for the match. He walked into the open arena across a small wooden bridge that extended over the moat around the arena. The stands were full and Hellstorm could easily see Ruby. She had taken a seat with her parents in a private section of the arena that had its own cover.

Hellstorm walked forward his eyes locked on the other gate. Slowly the door opened as a woman wearing the crest of the Lunastrain walked out. The crest was an emblem of a silver moon lying on top of large red kite shield. Right beside her was her Pokemon, a canine that stood over six feet even on all fours. It had a very bright and brilliant fur, even for an Arcanine.

(An Arcanine, this should prove too interesting.) Hellstorm moved to the center of the arena. He knew that he had some advantages as well disadvantages to not having a trainer with him. The only disadvantage he saw was the fact the opposing Pokemon has a second set of eyes that he did not. However, he could think on his own and could choose his own attacks and not have some trainer shout them out to him which meant that his opponent would only have a few seconds to determine his attacks. At the same time, he could over hear what attacks the trainer would call and prepare to counter them as they were called.

As Hellstorm made his way to the center of the arena, so did the Arcanine he would be facing.

'_Hey, I hope you didn't come here to win.'_ The Arcanine said as they met in the middle of the arena, each one waiting for the signal to start the battle. _'There has been one of you Lucarios yet that hasn't fallen to my attacks.'_

'_Unlike others of my kind, fire won't take me down easily.'_ Hellstorm looked up at the Pokemon before which stood well over a foot taller then he did.

'_I'll make this fast as long as you go down quietly.'_ The Arcanine smirked.

"Begin." King Mark shouted. Hellstorm took off fast; a foe of this size would not be easy to take down.

"Flame Wheel." The female trainer shouted and almost as if this attack had been planned by the both of them, Arcanine was instantly on fire and rolling along the ground. The large flaming wheel headed for Hellstorm who defiantly stood his ground.

Hellstorm knew his strength and natural impact abilities could help him here as he threw his left out to his right as he prepared to swat the powerful fire type off course and possibly into the water. Hellstorm swung his arm at high speeds just before impact and slammed the back of his paw into the flaming disc that would have crushed him sending his attacker off into the air at an odd angle. It was thanks to his impact abilities that he was able to pull this stunt off. A power that he mastered shortly after coming to this time amplified the amount of impact damage he dealt when fighting. The final result was a greatly increased amount of force that knocked him back.

The Arcanine did not seem to be affected by the attack and landed smoothly only to continue his attack although he did have to adjust his course slightly to avoid one of the boulders that had been placed around the course. Hellstorm dashed behind a boulder as the Arcanine came back around.

The trainer who was with the Arcanine smiled thinking this would be a quick match, but was glad that it was not. Most of her foes before now had been weak and slow, that was the reason she joined up in the tournament.

Hellstorm hid behind the boulder as the Arcanine went to make a third pass, but just as it was going to pass the boulder Hellstorm was hiding behind, Hellstorm thrust the boulder into the Arcanine's path with a force palm. The Arcanine swerved to get out of the way, but in the process, he ran into another boulder with a loud bang as the boulder crumbled under the force of the attack.

'_Why you little.'_ The Arcanine shook off his dizziness quickly as Hellstorm went to charge in.

"Inferno." The trainer shouted. Arcanine wasted no time and quickly drew in a very deep breath. Hellstorm was quickly moving in, but he was still not fast enough. The Arcanine began to exhale, the deep red and yellow of blazing came from the back of his throat. In less then a second, everything in front of the Arcanine and a bit to his sides were all lit up in a brilliant blaze of reds, yellows, and oranges. The attack lasted several seconds and everyone was ready to call the match. The flames died down revealing the blackened ground and boulders, but also showing one other thing.

In the middle of the large patch of scorched dirt was Hellstorm. He was kneeling down on his left knee using his right arm to support himself. His fur was slightly singed, but nothing serious. Everyone looked on in surprise as Hellstorm got up and dusted off as much of the blacked ash as he could.

'_What the heck? No way, none of your kind could survive that attack.'_ The Arcanine snapped bearing its teeth showing just how unhappy it was by the fact that his foe still stood.

'_I told you fire won't affect me like it does the others of my kind.'_ Hellstorm dusted the last of the ash he could off of himself as he prepared to charge his foe.

Everyone in the stands was surprised by the turn out of the attack as they thought it was over. Hellstorm was not used to the crowds cheering he was getting and just pushed it all out of his mind. He charged forward, his fists tightly clenched as he prepared for the next attack.

The Arcanine moved in quickly and being slightly faster then Hellstorm had a slight advantage. Hellstorm however was very resistant to his foes elemental attacks that would limit the moves used effectively against him.

"Take down." The female trainer called out trying to find some way to deal damage to Hellstorm.

Both combatants moved quickly toward one another, the Arcanine's anger was starting to get the better of him. Never before had any opponent shaken off his strongest fire attack like it did very little damage if any at all. He ignored his masters command went into another Fire Spin attack, only this one was much stronger then before leaving the lightly trail of cinders as it went along. Hellstorm jumped over the enrage Arcanine and fired a pair of Aura Spheres straight into the path of the Arcanine creating a small crater. While it wasn't very deep or large in size, it was still enough to disrupt the attack and sent the Arcanine air borne.

Hellstorm landed and very quickly turned to plan an interception course with the Arcanine. Hellstorm jumped into the path of the Arcanine as he once again summoned forth a pair of Aura spheres. Much to Hellstorm's surprise, the Arcanine stopped his Flame Wheel mid flight and countered Hellstorm with a Fire Blast attack. The five pointed star like fire attack struck Hellstorm head on and knocked him back towards the watery edge of the arena. Hellstorm was lying flat on his back, the tips of his dreadlocks just barely touching the water.

(I've got to give him more credit. Those fire type attacks of his do more then just fire damage.) Hellstorm jumped to feet as the Arcanine dashed in quickly on his right. Hellstorm ran toward his foe and jumped over him at the second. He grabbed the Arcanine's tail as he flew over him and quickly jerked his arm up, although it did cause him to pop his shoulder and almost dislocate it. The Arcanine was caught off guard by the sudden change of direction as he quickly found flying out of control into the air after having almost lost his tail in the attack. Hellstorm launched one Aura Sphere right after another with his good arm, but none of them were aimed directly at the Arcanine. Instead, the Aura Spheres formed a ring of nine around the helpless Pokemon as it started its rapid decent. A small ring of aura energy seemed to form connecting all nine the Aura Spheres to each other.

The Arcanine managed to regain control of himself and had a somewhat decent landing with all nine of the Aura Spheres still circling him. He quickly picked himself up, but it was too late. In a last ditch effort, he mustered up the most energy he could and fired one last attack at Hellstorm. A wave of fire engulfed half of the arena as Hellstorm quickly ducked for cover. All nine of the Aura Spheres around the Arcanine forcefully collided with it at the same time ending the barrage of fire, but Hellstorm was unable to find cover for the time the flames had engulfed the field. His fur was burnt a long with most of the arena.

(I've forgotten how hard a battle is without my demon arts and magic. Perhaps I've relied on them too long.) Hellstorm was able to stand, but was still a bit shaky. He quite whispered a very simple and light healing under his breath that would give him energy and take away the pain, but it did little for his fur. He would need a long bath to deal with that problem. He looked up to see just how bad the Arcanine was as the smoke slowly cleared around the area. The Arcanine was still standing but was in worse shape then Hellstorm.

'_I've really got to give you more credit that what I thought you deserved.'_ Hellstorm shouted.

'_You ass. I'll make you pay for this.'_ The Arcanine quickly recovered himself and charged, his fangs showing as they were light up by the fire building in his throat.

Hellstorm cursed at his luck. If he was going to end this quickly, he had to use one of his more powerful moves. Hellstorm quickly drew in energy into his right arm as a dark aura appeared around body. He ran forward to meet the Arcanine for one last attack. The Arcanine released his Inferno attack once again as Hellstorm used his Black Palm attack right in the Arcanine's face. The Arcanine flew back with a black scar on his face.

"I've relied on my demon arts and magic too much." Hellstorm whispered to himself as the King called the match.

"Varwaz wins." The king shouted for all to hear. There was no way the Arcanine was getting back up, but it was still a close match. Hellstorm would have to spend some time practicing his moves before the next match to avoid a repeat of this match.

Hellstorm made his way back to the combatants resting area. Imoen saw Hellstorm and ran over to him.

'_That must have hurt. What were you fighting?' _She asked as her master walked up to him.

"That last move of yours was a quite impressive." Hector said as he stood up. Hellstorm took the same seat he had before. All Hellstorm had to do now was wait for the day's competitions to end. "Can we talk in private for a few? I have something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Hellstorm asked.

"Let's just say we have more in common then you think." Hector moved toward a table against the far as if getting a drink of water from the many cups that were laid there. Hellstorm's curiosity got the better of him and he walked to the same table.

"I'm impressed that you managed to beat him without your demon arts." Hector stated just loud enough for Hellstorm to hear. "In our time, you had no choice but to rely on them."

"Who are you?" Hellstorm asked quietly as not to draw attention.

"You weren't the only pulled from our time… Hellstorm." Hector replied. "We can talk more after the matches. I assume that you can get us a private room seeing as how you seem to have some sort of connection with the princess."

"We'll talk once we get out of here." Hellstorm turned to leave and quickly took note of all of the other Pokemon and humans. He did not want word to get out that he was Hellstorm.

As Hellstorm took his seat, Imoen came over to join him. _'Are you okay? That last battle looked like it hurt. Let me take a look.'_ Imoen went to reach her arm toward Hellstorm, but he raised his paw to stop hers.

'_Why have you taken such a liking to me?'_ Hellstorm asked.

'_Because you look nice. There aren't that many Lucario around here, so I try to get to know one whenever and where I can.'_ Imoen replied.

'_Has your master said anything about me?'_ Hellstorm put his paw back down.

'_He said that you were very unique, one of a kind. I can see why with that stone in your head.'_ Imoen explained. _'He also said that you were very powerful and that he had hopes of traveling with you if you were the one he was looking for.'_

'_How long have you been traveling with him?' _Hellstorm asked as Imoen once again stretched her arm out to try and inspect Hellstorm's burnt fur.

'_I've been traveling with him since I hatched. Hector found my egg lying in a small cave, but my parents were no where to be seen. He came into the cave looking for shelter from the storm that night.'_ Imoen slowly looked through Hellstorm's burnt fur. _'I hatched shortly after he arrived. I could feel his kind presence before I hatched, but only his. After I hatched, he stayed there with me for a few days, but my parents never returned, so he took me with him.'_ Imoen was surprised by how few actual burns there were on Hellstorm. _'The two real things I've noticed about him is that he always seems to be searching for someone and that he seems to be able to go on forever as if he rarely needs sleep and even when he does sleep, its never for long.'_ Imoen finished her short story.

'_I see, but about how long have you been traveling with him. How many years?' _Hellstorm asked again hoping to get an idea how long Hector would have been stuck here before Hector met with him.

'_I'd have to say about nine years.'_ Imoen answered him. _'I've never seen so little damage from a fire attack like that done to our kind. We have a natural weakness to fire.'_

'_Like your master said, I'm far from normal.'_ Hellstorm looked over at Hector who was peacefully looking at the next match. If what Hector had said was true, then it is possible that a demon may have followed him through time and that would put everyone's life in danger.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Most of the Pokemon that went into the arena returned, but a few were unable to continue.

The rules for this tournament were unlike most because the King and Queen were looking for those best suited to the job and not the strongest. Because of this, any Pokemon that could continue to battle the next day was to come back and fight the next day. There would be a full week of battles, a total of seven battles for each combatant that was able to continue. Then at the end of the seven days, the King and Queen would consult with their lead guards and then pick a number of those that would do the best at the guarding the castle. In the end, it was all about style, skills, smarts, and overall performance that would secure a Pokemon's position as a castle guard. Power did mean a lot here, but only if the Pokemon in question made the best use of it and followed commands as given.

Imoen made a few attempts at small talk with Hellstorm, but he did not seem very interested in small talk. Still, she tried to get to know Hellstorm in any way she could. As the day drew to a close and the mages were force to light up the arena, the battles were called to an end for the day. Out of the several hundred Pokémon that came to compete, only ninety-eight were able to continue. A Nidoqueen had broken a leg in the first round but did not stop trying to perform its best for its master and thus, almost killed itself. The second one that was unable to continue battling was a Golem because its master was called back to his homeland to deal with a sudden uprising of bandits. The King made a kind speech thanking everyone for coming and hoped to see many more good battles over the next few days. Ruby was quick to meet back up with Hellstorm after the King and Queen returned to the castle.

"That was amazing. I thought that inferno attack would have taken you out." Ruby cheered.

"I need a room to speak with this man in private." Hellstorm explained not caring for the praise he was being given.

"Very well. Come with me. I'll take you to the Royal Library." Ruby was slightly confused.

Ruby led Hellstorm, Imoen, Hector, and his Nidoking deep into the castle, down halls that had only torches hung on them. This was obviously not a highly used area as the walls were so plain. For that matter, very few probably ever came back this way. Ruby stopped before a large set of wooden doors. She pushed on them and they creaked as they opened. Once again, they failed to notice the extra set of eyes that had followed them oh so stealthily.

Bookshelf upon bookshelf filled the room all lined up against walls. Several undecorated chairs with simple cushions and empty tabled filled the center of the room. A slight layer of dust had built up on the tables and chairs, but there was no such dust, not even the tiniest spec on any of the books that filled this room. All the books were in very good condition no matter how old or new the books were. In one of the corners near the door was a large stack of books that been put aside for Ruby. These were the books she requested before finding out that that she had been called back home to watch the tournaments that were now taking place.

"You can talk here while I do some reading." Ruby walked over to the pile of books and grabbed a large collection before heading over to a table. Ruby tapped the table twice and the very small whirlwind gathered the dust all at the center of the table. "I do love these tables." Ruby tapped a chair as the dust was quickly cleared off the chair.

"How do you know me?" Hellstorm turned toward Hector as he quickly summoned forth a Crimson Aura Sphere in his paw and pointed it right at Hector. His Nidoking stepped between them ready to fight.

'_Back off.'_ The Nidoking warned Hellstorm.

"Stand down. He has every right to question me like given the circumstances." Hector told his Nidoking. Nidoking was not very happy to do so, but he moved aside. "That day the demon attacked our pack, I was also thrown threw time. My real name is Hector."

"Hector?! You've certainly grown up." Hellstorm lowered his arm, but did not dismiss his Aura Sphere.

"I've been in this time for about twelve years. Of course I grew some. I heard rumors of Hellstorm in this kingdom and just had to come and see for myself. I see you still have that watch Julian gave you." Hector looked at Hellstorm's wrist.

"How did you survive?" Hellstorm asked.

"It wasn't easy. Most of my arm here is made of magic." Hector held up his left arm as it now rippled with magic. "I was lucky I landed where I did. A kind group of farmers cared for until I was able to get back on my feet. I cast a spell on their land making it very rich increasing the crops they grew in return for saving my life." Hector explained.

"You're from the same time as Hellstorm?" Ruby asked sharing the same confused expression as Imoen.

'_Huh, wait. I don't get this.'_ Imoen complained.

"Fine, if you really from my time and pack, answer me this. Who was my greatest friend and mate to be?" Hellstorm asked.

"Sora, that vampire you saved from the mutant Leafeon on your first trip to the coast, roughly… three, maybe four years before the attack." Hector answered unsure about the time line.

"It was three years before the attack." Hellstorm dismissed his Aura Sphere and bowed his head. "Forgive my aggression."

"All is fine. We're just lucky to have found each other." Hector gave his forgiveness knowing that this meeting was risky. "Anyway, I was hoping that you might be able help me find a way back to our time. This world may be nice, but I can't get used to it. It's far too different."

"Hold on, you two are from the same pack. I thought Hellstorm came back alone." Ruby stood up and left four open books on the table.

'_Hector, what's this all about? You're scaring me a bit.'_ Imoen walked over to her master.

"Everything will be alright Imoen. I'm still me; I'm just talking with an old friend. I have no doubt that you have noticed my strange habits like getting very little sleep and always seeming to have lots of energy not to mention my hate for the cold." Hector explained looking down kindly at his Lucario. He stroked her head slowly showing that everything was aright.

"I found the gates of time, but the master of said gate refuse to let me pass until I've collected the seventeen element orbs." Hellstorm explained now that he knew Hector was a friend.

"The elemental orbs?" Hector asked. "What do they have to do with getting back to our time?"

'_You're not going to leave me, are you?'_ Imoen asked worriedly.

"I'm not leaving anyone behind. I'll take you with me if you so desire, but this time. I just can't seem to get the hang of it. My adaptations can restrict me here unless I can adapt." Hector explained his position in this time.

"Let me start with what I know." Hellstorm began his story while someone watched quietly out of sight taking in each and every word.

--

A few hours later…

Everyone had taken a seat at the center table.

"And then I thought that this tournament would be the best way to easily explore the castle. Who knew that this event would also bring us back together?" Hellstorm finished his story with Ruby's help here and there explaining a few things that she had studied from her books.

"I can understand most of that, but this is far from what I imaged would happen. Who knew that you would be some kind of super creature? At least that explains why the demons attacked. They came searching for a power they couldn't have. But if what you say is true, then we can return to our time and fix this." Hector gave his last set of comments. The extra set of eyes took off quickly and quietly unheard by anyone.

'_That explains a lot, but I still don't get it.'_ Imoen had taken a seat next her master.

"I'm not surprised. Your kind isn't really allowed to take such studies. I took a risk training you in the medical arts I taught you." Hector once again gently stroked her head.

'_I understood most of that and now I seem to have a general idea on why you act the way you do.'_ Nidoking had been leaning back against the wall rather then sitting in a chair. _'A lot of things have become clear to me during the last few hours.'_

"I'm curious, where did you find him and how much have you taught him?" Hellstorm asked.

"He found me is more the appropriate term for it. We've been traveling for almost eleven years and he's most of this on his own. He was quick to pick up on things." Hector told Hellstorm.

'_I always keep an eye out for everything I can and in doing so, I've learned a lot about humans. I can tell you right now that Hector is unlike most others and sees Pokemon as equals without question.'_ Nidoking explained.

The doors opened creaking once again as Victor stepped into the room wearing a light suit of leather armor. "Ruby, it is getting late. Perhaps you should get rooms for your additional guests before it the moon has peaked. Don't forgot, all of you are expected in tomorrow's tournament."

"Of course. Please, follow me." Ruby stood up and headed for the door. "Victor, see to that my books are not disturbed until I have a chance to get back to them."

"None shall touch your books." Victor bowed his head as he turned toward the table. There were at least twelve various books all relating in some to Hellstorm's gifts being the Riftwalker. Ruby led the group back down the undecorated halls and to the sleeping quarters. She picked out a fairly large room for Hector and his Pokemon before she made her way with Hellstorm to her room.

"Please make sure that I am awake in time to get ready for tomorrows match." Hellstorm walked over to his bed as Ruby went to get changed. Hellstorm chanted himself a light sleeping spell to see to it that he would get enough sleep for tomorrow's match. He had much to think about now that he had encountered another from his own time and to add to this was the fact that this person was from his own pack. Add that to fact that he had to worry about how to deal with whatever he encountered tomorrow and the fact that he had to get picked to become a guard for the castle and he had a recipe for failure. Ruby knew that she had to find some way to help him relax and keep himself collected over the next few days, but she did not know how to do this.


	7. Let the Battle Continue

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:  
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.  
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.  
_'Poketalk'_  
(Character Thoughts)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 7: Let the Battle Continue

Ruby woke Hellstorm shortly after dawn. Hellstorm was still a bit drowsy, but a low level siphon magic spell gave him the energy he would need for the day. Of course, he had siphoned his own magic into energy, which meant he would be unable to cast any spells for a while. There was a chance he might not be able to use his demon arts and hopefully, he would not need to use them. Hellstorm walked down the halls beside Ruby. Hellstorm stretched his arms as they walked. Ruby was already dressed for the day wearing a simple set of clothing unlike her parents consisting of a plain blue silk shirt and a long skirt over a pair of simple blue shorts. While her parents would sometimes nag about her choice in clothing, they rarely forced her to change into something more royal. They knew since she was young that she would not be the princess they had hoped for, the princess who would one day make any prince a wondrous bride and care for his family. Not to say that they didn't approve of what Ruby became, in fact they were quite happy with their daughter. She may not be that princess they wanted, but she was kind, caring, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, would become a kind and just queen one day, a queen that could change any kingdom for the better.

Hellstorm made his way with Ruby to the combatant's area where they found Hector waiting with his Nidoking and Imoen.

'Hellstorm, you look good today. I'm rooting for you.' Imoen greeted Hellstorm.

"You'll be in the first round." Ruby informed Hellstorm.

After a few minutes of waiting, the same man as yesterday once again called for Varwaz. Hellstorm made his way to the arena. He crossed the same bridge and expected a battle just as hard as the one he fought yesterday. Hellstorm found himself waiting in the center of the arena as his opponent slowly made their way to the arena. An older male walked into the arena with a large oversized Gengar at his side. The large ghost floated right beside his master. His eyes were those of warrior breed for combat. Hellstorm figured this would be a long match. The trainer took up a spot by the bridge that lead to the combatants area he had come from as the Gengar went to meet Hellstorm at the middle of the ring.

The King started a small speech thanking everyone who had come then started the match. Gengar moved in fast no matter how Hellstorm tried to increase the gap between them, Gengar was drawing ever closer. Hellstorm decided that since keeping his distance and attacking at a range was out of the question, he would have to use some of his ranged attacks at close range if possible because his physical attacks were useless this foe. Hellstorm quickly moved in with a crimson Aura Sphere in each paw as the Gengar quickly made his way toward his prey. Hellstorm fired his projectiles, but both of them passed through the Gengar harmlessly as the Gengar grabbed onto Hellstorm. Black bolts of electricity began to shoot off Hellstorm's fur and into the Gengar as it used one of the most powerful ghost-type moves out there. The Gengar began to drain Hellstorm of energy using the attack known as Wounding Body. In a quick and sudden movement, Hellstorm threw his hands into the Gengar's head and as expected, both hands passed through the ghost type. Hellstorm smiled upon a confused Gengar as he began summon a pair of small Aura Spheres inside the Gengar's head. Before it had a chance to move, Hellstorm launched the two orbs into each other causing a small, but very effective explosion instantly knocking the Gengar out.

The King called the match and Hellstorm made his way back to the combatant's area. He was tired from lack of sleep and siphoning his own magic, but now he had to add being drained of energy to that list.

_'I thought he had you.'_ Imoen ran over to help Hellstorm to a bench position against the wall so that Hellstorm could lean back.

"That was an impressive use of abilities out there." Hector complemented Hellstorm. "But I do believe that you need some rest. Imoen, I think a Winter's Rest Potion would help Varwaz. Do we have any left?"

"Winter's Rest Potion? Yes, I think a half sleep would do me good." Hellstorm looked up toward Hector.

_'We have a few left.'_ Imoen walked over to her master's potions bag and pulled out a velvet vial.

"If I'm not here to keep an eye on you, Imoen will no doubt be here." Hector told Hellstorm and Imoen double checked the vial. She walked over to Hellstorm and gave him the potion. Hellstorm quickly founding him in a drift like state, almost sleeping, but not quite. He could make out phrases here and there, but for the most part was too far out of it make any sense of anything right now. He knew however that a good sudden jolt would be all that he needed to bring himself back to his senses.

xXx

Hellstorm was brought back to his senses late afternoon just as the last match was finishing up. Imoen had shaken him a bit and Hellstorm was easily able to get up. His energy was almost fully restored which meant he wouldn't need sleep until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Just like last time, the King gave a quick speech after the last match had taken place and then Hellstorm back off to the library with Imoen, Hector, his Nidoking, and Ruby. Akara greeted them as they entered.

"I wondered where you ran off to." Hellstorm commented upon seeing the Lamia who had taken a human form.

"I've been looking around the castle for the most part. I also watched your two matches." Akara stated. "And who is this?" She asked nodding her head toward Hector.

"A friend from my time. Hector, this is Akara, my new demonic traveling companion for now." Hellstorm answered.

"That's a very good spell you've cast. I am impressed that it has been so perfectly cast." Hector complemented Akara.

"I thought that you were the only pulled from your time." Akara tilted her head in confusion.

"That's what I thought as well." Hellstorm told her.

"So back to the topic from last night." Ruby returned to her books, which were all laid out the same way she left them.

"Then I guess it's my turn to explain what happened to me." Hector took a seat at the center table along with everyone else minus the Nidoking who once again stood by the wall and the same extra pair of eyes from last night. "Everything up to the point when the demons attacked is the same, so I'll begin with my last minute in our time and my rough landing in that melon field." Everyone's eyes were focused on Hector. "One second I was about to killed by that demon. Some sort of barbed… wire like tentacle was quickly tracking my down no matter how fast I moved or which direction I turned. In a last ditch effort at the time, I began to cast a spell of decay that would transfer from my body to the creature but was interrupted half way through the spell. I was tossed into some sort of vortex or something and the next thing I know, I'm floating a few dozen feet the off the ground over a melon field." Ruby scanned her books as Hector talked adding a few hand motions in order to summon up a very small illusion of the area in the area between his hands. Hellstorm was careful to take in every last word. He had to take note of every possible thing that had also entered this time from his own.

"I landed hard on my arm and my spell that I had been casting was still gathering up energy. The landing completely threw my concentration off and caused the spell to backfire and took my arm out with it. Luckily, a large container of that liquid metal made the jump through time with me and I quickly cast a spell to bind the metal to my arm and that's how I have this one right now." Hector held up his magic arm again which still rippled with magic. "I can use the liquid metal any way I need to as long as I don't draw too much of it out of my arm. Anyway, the farmers who owned the land saw my landing and came to help. That was when I first got the idea that I wasn't in the same land anymore. At first, I thought that I had been tossed to the other continent, but soon found out otherwise. I quickly learned that where I was, time was very different." Hector continued. Imoen had settled into a seat next to Hellstorm and was beginning to lean against him, not that he really cared.

"This family of farmers took care of me and helped me regain my strength. After a few weeks, I was ready to go. Of course they did ask me to stay for a while longer, but I needed information which they knew nothing about. So, I headed for the Arcane Counsel. Being a group of powerful mages, I figured that they would have an idea on what happened. However, they did not. I was leaving to make my way to a set of ruins that they said might point me in the right direction, but I never found them. Instead, this Nidoking here found me while it was still a Nidorino." Hector motioned over to his Nidoking.

"You constantly refer to him as Nidoking. Surely he must have a name." Ruby asked.

_'We only take names once we have a mate. Until then, we have no such thing other then the species we are.'_ The Nidoking explained.

"He says that they only take names once they have a mate. Until that time, they have none." Hellstorm interrupted the Nidoking's words as Ruby was unable to understand.

"I see. That would make sense, I guess." Ruby turned back to her books.

"Anyway, I spent the next year following dead lead after dead lead trying to find out what happened. I stayed out of the public eye and rarely came to any large town. Eventually, I found Imoen here and raised her." Hector told them. "For the most part, nothing happened. I've come across a few things, but nothing big. Other then the first few days of my sudden displacement, everything has been quite and I've done my best to keep it that way unlike yourself, Hellstorm. Rumors about spread fast from the day you first showed up."

"The best way to get my job done was by spreading word of my arrival. If I had stayed quite like you, I never would have gotten as far as I have. Still, it did take me some time to get back on my feet." Hellstorm explained.

"I can understand that." Hector turned to look at Imoen who was still leaning on Hellstorm.

"Anyway, if I am to do my best in this tournament, I'll need a sparing partner." Hellstorm stated.

"I can help with that. It'll be just like old times." Hector got up as did Hellstorm, which disappointed Imoen. "I'll tell you a bit more about my journey here as we spar."

The next hour was spent watching Hellstorm and Hector spar in one often corners of the room while Hector explained his story with more detail. Neither of them used magic or any non basic attacks. They just used their hands. Once they were done, everyone returned to their rooms for the night. Hellstorm however, spent the night mediating preparing for tomorrow's match as he knew getting some sleep this soon after that Winter's Rest Potion was pointless.

xXx

Hellstorm opened his eyes are first light. He had spent the night meditating and was fully aware of his surrounds. Hellstorm moved toward the window and looked at the rising sun. Just five more matches and then he would find out just how easy it would be to gain access to the orb. Either way, he would not have to hide that fact that he was staying with Ruby as she would have him accompany her back to the manor as new body guard assigned to her protection. A story that most would buy easily. Ruby slowly started to stir beneath the blanket of her bed. Hellstorm moved to the door and opened it. Much to his annoyance, Gallahad was right there guarding the door.

"You're up early. Might I ask what you're doing?" Gallahad asked.

"Nothing that concerns you. I simply wish to head to the courtyard to stretch before my match today." Hellstorm replied.

"I know you've done something to the princess. There is no way she'd pick you over me and once I can prove that you did something, I'll be the one to take your life beast." Gallahad whispered as Hellstorm passed.

"You talk nonsense. I can see why refuses to accept you for anything other then a castle guard." Hellstorm replied as he moved down the hall leaving Gallahad with a angry look on his face.

--

The next round of matches was going to start in a few minutes. This time, Hellstorm was third on the list according to Ruby as he waited in the Combatant's Area. Imoen had chosen a seat next to Hellstorm again, but Hellstorm no longer seemed to mind. A friend of hectors was a friend of his own. Of course, he still didn't talk with her much, but he would acknowledge her presence. Just as the days before, a man came in and called out an name and the trainer who was called would leave for their match. The king gave an announcement like always before the first match and then the rest of the day would be filled with matches.

Imoen was still somewhat drowsy and Hellstorm offered her his shoulder until his match came up. The first match took a short while and as soon as the trainer came back, the second one was called out. The second match was rather quick, but Imoen had fully come to her senses by the end of it. She sat up straight knowing that Hellstorm was to be called next.

The same man as always walked in with the previous trainer and called out the name "Varwaz, get ready."

Hellstorm got up and walked to the doorway. He had no idea what his next challenge was, but he'd find out soon enough. Hellstorm walked into the arena, his eyes completely centered on the opposing gate waiting for whatever opponent he would fight next.

xXx

Sorry for the short chapter, but between the holidays and a few other things, it's been a little hard to keep things going on track. I am looking for a possible co-author mainly to help make sure this story keeps going. After looking back at all of my old documents and stories I've started from a few years ago, I've noticed that many of them do not have an ending. I now request a co-author to help insure that this story does not follow the same fate as many others that seem to die off. Keep in mind that I already have most of the major plot figured out, it just needs written. If you think that you could be this co-author, send me an E-mail. Must be very open-minded, creative, and most of all, have a fair sense of writing. This does not mean you have to be perfect, just please, don't waste time if your not going to really help. Remember to contact me by E-mail and not in a review.


	8. The end of the Tournament

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:  
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.  
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.  
'Poketalk'  
(Character Thoughts)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

Author Note: This first battle in this chapter was supposed to be part of Chapter 7, but I just couldn't seem to write it at the time.

xXx

Chapter 8: The end of the Tournament

It didn't take long for Hellstorm to see his next opponent. A male trainer walking beside a Gardevoir walked across the bridge leading to the Arena. Unlike other Gardevoir, this one wore a black dress rather then the normal white one that others of her kind had. The spike on her chest seemed to be smaller then most as well. A slight smile crossed her face as she met Hellstorm in the center of the ring.

"Perhaps you will prove a better opponent then my last." The words simply appeared in his head. Hellstorm looked his next opponent over and could already see several other differences that separated this one Gardevoir from others. Her arms were slightly larger then others suggesting increased muscle mass. Her eyes were slightly different…not normal. Looking at them gave Hellstorm the feeling that she was looking straight into him, seeing and learning everything about him. It wasn't like she was looking into his soul, but looking into his past searching for something. He had trained long and hard to keep psychic Pokemon out of his head before and he was never intimidated by others. But these eyes, they made his cautious not to let his mind open to her even for a second.

Hellstorm took a fighting stance as the King declared the start of the match. Hellstorm charged in, but before he was able to do anything, he was hit by a powerful force. It was as if he had just been hit by the full force of stamping Tauros. Hellstorm was flung back by the sudden attack and landed on his knees using one hand to try to keep himself balanced as she slid back across the arena. He looked to see the Gardevoir slowly walking toward him. She threw her arm out like she could use it to cut the stone pillar next to her. Her eyes flashed red as the top half of the pillar was cleanly cut off of the pillar. She pointed her hand at the now free piece of stone and it began to hover in place before she threw her hand toward Hellstorm. The stone flew like a cannonball toward Hellstorm.

Hellstorm jumped out of the way in time to see the stone hit the arena leaving a very large dent in the wall before the stone fell into the watery moat that surrounded the arena. He landed right behind the psychic type and went to deliver a Force Palm to his target only to have the Gardevoir grab his fist. Her eyes had a bright red glow to them as she held his fist in place.

'_Interesting. Not many psychic Pokemon can use their abilities like you.'_ Hellstorm went to use his other fist to try the same attack he had just used, but the Gardevoir caught his other fist as well.

"My powers are far more effective then most." The words appeared in his thoughts, but Hellstorm knew that it was Gardevoir talking to him.

'_I can see that.' _Hellstorm responded. Before Hellstorm could do anything, the Gardevoir slammed her knee into Hellstorm's stomach sending him into the air a bit. However, since she still had a firm hold on Hellstorm's hands, she dragged him back down only to slam her knee into his face. She released Hellstorm as she moved back leaving Hellstorm to grab his now bloody snout.

Hellstorm quickly recovered. He was beginning to get the idea that he may not be able to defeat this foe with just his normal selection of attacks and may have to use some magic and possibly demon arts to defeat this foe. Hellstorm quickly charged back in with a pair of large crimson Aura Spheres ready to fire in a seconds notice. By using Agility, his speed increased and moved ever closer to his target.

The Gardevoir stood quite still considering the attack that was coming. She threw one of her hands forward sending a powerful Psychic Shockwave outward in the direction she had pointed. The pillar that been behind Hellstorm was quickly reduced to a pile of rubble with a minor explosion and the Gardevoir once again threw her fist toward Hellstorm. Once again he dodged the attack and the pillar behind him was no longer standing. Hellstorm launched both Aura Spheres at close range only to miss. The Gardevoir teleported behind Hellstorm and delivered a powerful kicked to the back of his head sending flying face first into a pillar. She threw hand out and whatever attack she had used to destroy the other stone pillars found its mark. It felt like a Snorlax had been dropped on Hellstorm; the total force of the attack sent him threw the pillar.

Hellstorm got up to see that the attacks that the Gardevoir had been using were starting to take a toll on both of them. Her breathing had changed; it was just slightly harder showing that the attacks she used took a lot of energy. She still stood up straight though and that meant that she still had a ways to go before she would be worn out.

Hellstorm on the other hand was quickly becoming annoyed. His continuous string of failed attacks would have an effect on if he was picked as a castle guard. He had to step it up to guarantee his position as a guard so that he would be given easy access to the castle. He got up as he prepared for another attack, only this one wouldn't be one of his natural choices. He had a few elite skills that had taken him a long time to master; perhaps it was time to use one. He charged in again using Agility to move in close.

The Gardevoir again began to fire off whatever she had been using littering the arena with more and more crumbled stone pillars. Finally, Hellstorm was close enough to use his Crater Fist. He brought his fist back and slammed it down into the ground before the Gardevoir who had just moved a few feet back to avoid the attack. Hellstorm fist hit the ground with a devastating force. Unable to support the attack, the ground fractured. The large stone chunk at the center of the attack dug into ground forcing other large chunks upward at odd angles. Several smaller stone chucks flew up as there was nowhere else for them to go. Hellstorm threw his fist into the stone chunks sending them flying like rockets toward the Gardevoir. One by one, the Gardevoir threw her own hands forward to counter each of the incoming projectiles. Each one broke apart as if it had been shattered on the inside.

Hellstorm stopped his rain of stone long enough to charge in toward his foe. Hellstorm came face to face with a smiling foe. Hellstorm wasted no time in using Force Palm again, but before he could finish the attack, the Gardevoir had placed her hand on his chest just under his chest spike. Just like before, the same powerful force of her psychic blast nailed Hellstorm sending flying back. He landed hard on one of the few remaining stone pillars that were still standing.

(She is really starting to tick me off.) Hellstorm thought as he got up with a hand on his chest. He got to his feet as he prepared for another attack. It took a lot of will power at this point to keep him from using his demon arts in front of the whole arena audience. The Gardevoir jumped onto what was once a stone pillar, the large mess of rocks that used to make the pillar stood behind her. Hellstorm failed to notice this as he charged in. He readied two more Aura Spheres as he ran. Behind the Gardevoir, the rocks were beginning to shake and stir as she prepared for her own attack. Hellstorm moved in quickly firing the first of his two projectiles and quickly summoned forth a replacement. The Gardevoir jumped back as Hellstorm jumped at her. She smiled again now that Hellstorm had fallen for her trap.

Hellstorm was in the air just above the pile of rocks when the whole lot of them shot upward. Like scraps of metal drawn to powerful magnet, the shards struck Hellstorm hard. If not for the fact that Hellstorm had quickly abandoned his Aura Spheres to use his Diamond Form defensive technique, he would have been done for. His body had a very thin and badly cracked layer of living rock on it. While he still felt most of the attack, the damage he took was minimal. Just as fast as it came to be, the layer of living rock crumbled off of Hellstorm unable to hold its shape after the attack that it had just suffered. Luckily, this layer of living was too thin for anyone other the Gardevoir to see as it was almost crystal clear.

Hellstorm sank down to one knee trying to recover from the attack and bait his foe into attack. The Gardevoir charged in this time taking the lead and Hellstorm thought he would finally be able to land a blow to this foe. He quickly threw his fist forward only to see the illusionary form of copy Gardevoir fade before. He had once again been played for a fool. He turned instantly, his prediction was that the real attack would come from behind, but instead, it came from above. The Gardevoir had teleported above Hellstorm. She came down hard landing on Hellstorm's head. The Gardevoir jumped off a badly beaten Hellstorm leaving him to just barely stand.

The King called the match as Hellstorm fell back to the ground. Hellstorm quickly cast a small healing spell that would at least get him back to the combatant's area. He walked slowly and crossed the bridge just as the next trainer was walking out with a Toxicroak by her side.

--

Imoen quickly ran over to help Hellstorm over to the bench.

'_That must have hurt. I've never seen a Gardevoir fight like that like.'_ Imoen said as she set Hellstorm down on the bench and ran over to Hector's Potion bag whilst Hector came over to check on Hellstorm.

"That was a hard match." Hector said as he took a seat by Hellstorm. Ruby walked in a few seconds later.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't think you were going to fight against Nihlia's Pokemon. She was scheduled for the fourth round, but someone had to leave last night. I just found out." Ruby explained.

"I get what you mean about weird or strange Pokemon. What did she do to it to get it to fight like that?" Hellstorm asked.

"I don't know, but then again, she never really tells anyone." Ruby took a seat as she put her hands on Hellstorm.

xXx

The next few days passed quickly. Hellstorm worked extra fast during his next three matches to try to insure his place among the new castle guards.

His fourth match was against a Raticate. The large rat Pokemon was dealt with quickly via a few point blank Aura Spheres.

Hellstorm's fifth match took a minute longer but he dealt with the opposing Nuzleaf with a Suplex finish.

As for his sixth match, there was little chance of him losing against the Luxio that was his foe considering how easy it was predict its attacks.

Finally came day seven of the tournament. Hellstorm was last on the list of fights for the day and by the time he had came out into the arena, the sun was already beginning to set.

The mages had used their spells to light up the arena for the last fight of the tournament as Hellstorm walked out alone to the arena for the last time. His opponent was already there waiting for him as he entered the ring. A tall man stood by the gate with a Delibird by his side. The small red and white bird Pokemon had the sack it carried resting over its left shoulder as it prepared for battle.

Hellstorm met his foe in the center of the arena. _'Interesting.'_ The bird barely stood up three feet looking up to Hellstorm.

'_What's interesting?'_ Hellstorm asked.

'_You, very strange one. Yes strange indeed.'_ The bird tilted its head from one side to the other as the King stood.

"Begin." The king shouted and before Hellstorm could even move, the Delibird had already jumped at him with his sack in one hand.

Hellstorm jumped back as the sack was just about to hit him. The Delibird seemed to have planned this as he brought the sack down, he loosened his grip and the bag opened. _'Presents for everyone.'_ The bird shouted as several very small glowing orbs flew out and hit ground rolling all over the arena. Each one was a possible bomb. Hellstorm quickly realized the strategy of releasing so many presents at once. The bird wasn't as dumb as his voice suggested.

Hellstorm jumped back again once he touched ground landing near the edge of the arena. The bird landed shortly after Hellstorm did and raised his foot back before slamming it into one of the presents at his feet. The small orb flew like a rocket at Hellstorm as he raised his arms to shield his face. The orb hit hard, but the detonation of the present caught Hellstorm by surprise. He was expecting a fair sized blast, but got a full blown bomb instead.

The explosion sent Hellstorm flying back out of the cloud of smoke the bomb had created. He quickly flipped himself over so he could land on his feet. Upon landing, he almost fell back into the moat of water. Less then a second after landing, another present kicked through the still clearing smoke from the first one. It flew just as fast as the first one and Hellstorm was lucky to have landed where he did. He slid back into the water as the second present flew over his head and into the arena wall.

He resurfaced to see the Delibird high up in the charging an Ice Beam. _'You freeeeeeze'_ The bird let loose its Ice Beam giving Hellstorm only a few seconds to get out of the water. He was fast but not fast enough. The water froze as he climbed out, but his left foot was still in the water locking him in place.

The Delibird landed a few meters from him and pulled out another present.

'_Damn bird.'_ Hellstorm shouted as he threw his fist into the ice to free himself as the Delibird threw its gift at Hellstorm. The present hit Hellstorm in the side before once again detonating. Smoke covered the area as Hellstorm was once again tossed around like a rag doll. Hellstorm looked at the Delibird's trainer who was smiling with a smug look on his face.

Seeing a break in Hellstorm concentration, the Delibird charged back into battle. Opening his sack, the Delibird pulled out another one of its famed presents and threw it at Hellstorm as he landed hard on the newly formed ring of ice around the arena. Hellstorm countered with an Aura Sphere at the last second as he got back up. All the presents in the middle of the arena went off at once shaking the arena as the Delibird moved in ever closer to Hellstorm. Shaken by the blast, his hearing was impaired by the ringing from the sudden blast and his sight was gone from the amount of smoke in the arena.

Despite this, Hellstorm smiled. With the entire arena covered as it was in smoke, no one would see his next move. Using the Demon Art: Sixth Sense, Hellstorm caught the Delibird as it tried to club him with its bag. "Demon Art: Blazing Fist." Hellstorm whispered under his breath as his right arm lit up like a volcano. Hellstorm slammed his now fiery fist into the bird sending it flying to the other end of the arena, but not before it dropped a few more of its presents at Hellstorm's feet. He sensed them a little too late as they detonated sending him air borne only half conscious. The Delibird landed hard, but was still far from down.

'_You downed.'_ The bird screeched as it threw one last present hoping to end the match now. The present hit Hellstorm, but it did not blow up with a bang. Instead, it blew up with a bright light restoring Hellstorm's health. _'Uh oh.'_ The bird knew its present backfired and ran for cover. With Hellstorm once again in fighting shape, he unleashed a storm of Aura Spheres onto the field as he descended after being thrown up so high from the last bomb. Rather then go for power, Hellstorm went for numbers as he fired a seemingly endless stream of non-stop Aura Spheres far smaller then most. He landed hard rolling to absorb as much damage as possible.

The Delibird tried to counter using Ice beam. It fired Beam after beam at Hellstorm who was now harder to hit then before. That last present did more then just restore him to fighting condition, it completely restored his health.

'_Fall already.'_ The Delibird shouted as it closed in. It threw another present which Hellstorm countered with an Aura Sphere creating another violent explosion. The Delibird used the smoke created from the blast to close in on Hellstorm who was still under the effects of his Sixth Sense ability and saw him coming. The Delibird already had its bag open as it closed it. Hellstorm threw his fist only to realize that the Delibird already had a present in its hand.

Hellstorm's fist connects with the Delibird's and the present went off, but not alone. _'Big boomer.' _The Delibird cried out in horror saw the he had left his bag wide open as he charged in. Several other presents had already fallen out of the Delibird's bag. The resulting explosion threw them both into opposite walls of the arena. The Delibird was knocked out instantly, but Hellstorm managed to stand long enough to be called the victor before he fell over unconscious.

xXx

Hellstorm awoke the next day in Ruby's room. He had been resting on the guest there with Ruby by his side.

"You're up." Ruby closed her book as she saw movement.

"Where's that damn bird at?" Hellstorm asked holding his head, which was throbbing rather badly.

"That was one destructive battle. I'm surprised you recovered so quickly even with my magic." Ruby informed him. "As for that Delibird, it woke up this morning with a broken wing and several scars."

"That bird needs to be more careful with those presents of his." Hellstorm stated as he slowly go to inspect the damage to his body himself. There were a few scars and bruises, but nothing was broken. Aside for the headache was suffering, he was in decent condition.

"So, how do you feel?" Rudy asked standing next to him.

"Aside from my head, I appear to be fine." Hellstorm looked out the window to see that the sun was high in the sky.

"My father wishes to speak to you. Whenever you are ready, we can go see him." Ruby placed her hand on Hellstorm's head giving off a light blue glow as the throbbing Hellstorm's head went down.

"I thank you. Since I am up and my headache has subsided, let us go see your father." Hellstorm let Ruby lead the way to her Father's private study. The room had several swords that lined the room. Below each one was the name of a previous king and above each blade was portrait to match. The room was far larger then the study at Ruby's manor as mostly empty. "Father?" Ruby called out only to have her father and another person jumped out with swords in hand. The two of them were sparring.

"One second pleases. I just need to finish this." Mark called out. Both of the dueling men were wielding rapiers as they each tried to strike the other.

Mark lunged forward at his sparring partner, the tip of his sword slicing the belt of his foe. With his belt cut, his pants fell and he tripped backwards.

"Good match, but now you owe me a new belt." The man got up and dusted himself off. "So this is Ruby. It's been years since I last saw you." He bowed down, his long golden hair hung past his shoulders. As he stood back up, his green eyes took sight of Hellstorm. "I am impressed by the beast here. He fought valiantly on his own."

"I am no beast. I can clearly think for myself." Hellstorm objected.

"Well, I must me be going. I'll leave the rest of you alone to talk." With that the man left.

"Who was that father?" Ruby asked as the man left holding his pants up.

"That was Emperor Kassad, Ruler of the Falstar Empire. We were once rival knights." Mark explained. "Now then, onto more important matters. Varwaz, I believe you need some recognition after the battles you have fought." The king set down his blade on a desk and took a seat by the desk. "Sir Gallahad does not trust my wife's decision in making you a castle guard. I myself think that one with your skills would be a great addition to our ranks except for the fact that you seemed a bit reckless. For that reason, I have decided not to post you as a castle guard. I would however like to employ in a different manor." Hellstorm knew at this point that his chances of grabbing the orb he felt in the castle were greatly reduced.

"It wasn't just my recklessness. That Delibird used an unnatural number of those presents." Hellstorm informed the king. "I understand however, that I must also take some blame in that battle."

"I wish to have you serve as an Escort Guard for Empire Kassad on his return trip to the harbor. Still, there is other good news." The king went on. "You and Lord Nihlia's Gardevoir have tied for first place."

"I see." Hellstorm bowed his head in respect.

"The normal prize for the beast side of the Tournament was to be a large bag of gold and a sword. Seeing that you have no trainer however, I suppose I will have to give you something else." The king pulled out a small chest. "Therefore, I am giving you your pick of an item from this chest of gemstones. I'll then which ever gemstone you pick built into a collar for you to wear." Mark opened the chest and as luck would have, a large fiery red orb lay on the top of the pile of gemstones in the chest.

Hellstorm reached out to grab the orb and felt a great warmth emit form the orb. "If I may, I would like this orb."

"Then it is yours. I'll have one of my greatest jewel crafters begin work on a collar for it this evening." Hellstorm bowed his head again out of respect.

"Father, I have a question concerning Varwaz. He has asked to return to my estate. He wishes to serve as one of my staff." Ruby asked once Hellstorm had taken the orb.

"If he wishes to serve you, then I see nothing wrong with that. As luck would have it, Empire Kassad wishes to visit the Trade City of Sectoria and set sail from there. I believe he said something about a weapon smith there." Mark told them.

"A weapon smith? The only weapon smith in Sectoria is Eric Welthlight and he is there because I asked to move there." Ruby was slightly shocked. "I did not know that he was that well known."

"The Welthlight family has long been smiths of various kinds. I believe that they originally came from the Falstar Empire a few generations ago. I thought that their last child had died many years ago. Perhaps I was mistaken." The king informed his daughter. "There is not much more concerning Varwaz. You are free to leave whenever you are ready. As for you my daughter, there are a few things that we need to discuss."

"I thank you greatly for this gem." Hellstorm bowed with the orb in hand. This was not the way he had hoped on collecting it, but at least it was now his and even better, it was a gift.

"What is it you need of my father?" Ruby took a seat as Hellstorm left the room closing the door behind.

Hellstorm left the study and low and behold, Sir Gallahad seemed to be waiting for him. "I think we need to have a talk."

"I've nothing to say to you." Hellstorm turned to leave but Gallahad grabbed his arm.

"I think you do, traitorous beast. I've got wind that others have called you Hellstorm." Gallahad smiled.

"Where did you hear this?" Hellstorm asked jerking his arm free.

"Come, let us discuss this elsewhere. Unless you want others to hear us." Gallahad started down a hallway with a reluctant Hellstorm following him.

xXx

Gallahad lead Hellstorm down a series of halls where he finally stopped in front of a large door that lead to small courtyard. Hellstorm followed Gallahad into the courtyard.

"Alright, now that we are alone, let's talk." Gallahad had his knife drawn, but unlike his other knife like the one that he had during his first meeting with Hellstorm, this knife was covered with various runes.

"How about you talk and I'll listen for starters." Hellstorm needed to know how much Gallahad knew.

"I know a few things. For instance, I know that you claim to be the legend Hellstorm. I know that you placed a spell on Ruby. I also know that were intending to steal something from the treasury." Gallahad kept his knife ready to use at all times.

"You accuse me of many things. Can you prove anything?" Hellstorm asked.

"I've been spying on you for a while. I have everything I need to see to your death. But before I can do that, I need you to undo whatever spell you've put on my wife to be Ruby." Gallahad paced slowly around Hellstorm.

"I've cast no spell on her. She is the one who searched for me." Hellstorm told Gallahad.

"Then why has she defended you. I know she has a kindness toward you things, but to insult me as she did. That is not like her. She wouldn't dare to risk losing me." Gallahad continued to circle Hellstorm.

"This obsession you have is going to be the death you. Ruby is under no spell, not mine or any others." Hellstorm began to grow impatient with the questioning Gallahad was giving.

"Watch your tongue lest I tear it out." Gallahad snapped.

"Tell me, would you like to meet the real Hellstorm." Hellstorm asked.

"So, now you admit to taking his name for your own purpose." Gallahad thought he was finally getting somewhere.

"Varwaz?" Ruby called off in the distance.

"We'll finish this later." Gallahad pocketed his knife as Ruby entered the small courtyard.

"No, we finish this now. I'll not have you hounding me endlessly just because your obsession with a heart that will never be yours. Either we settle this here or I'll show you what I am next time you decide to draw arms against me." Hellstorm voice was raised slightly showing his anger.

"What's going on here?" Ruby asked a worried look on her face.

"You will inform this knight to leave me be. He keeps constant watch over me, threatens me with crimes I have not committed, and then draws an enchanted knife on me trying to force me to admit to things that his obsession has created." Hellstorm knew that if he did not settle this now, there would be more problems in the future.

"How dare you. Listen to me, my princess. He has threatened me and makes up lies. I told you not to trust him." Gallahad shouted.

"Both of you will calm down." Ruby was not amused.

"Forgive me." Hellstorm lowered his head slightly.

"Now then, Gallahad why did I find the two of you here? I thought I was clear when I told you to leave Varwaz be." Ruby stood between them.

"He has made claims that he is Hellstorm. He has poisoned your mind. Please, I beg of you. Let me slay this thing and break the spell he has placed over you. He is an evil creature that means you harm." Gallahad pleaded for Ruby to trust him.

"I see no evil here, Gallahad. I trust Varwaz and his word. You will leave him be." Ruby went to reach for Hellstorm's arm.

"He has cursed your mind beyond reason. I'll have to deal with this myself." Gallahad once again drew his knife and lunged at Hellstorm. Hellstorm turned; his blue fur went red as his aura began to show. He threw a single open paw into Gallahad's chest sending him back as another guard approached. Hellstorm changed back before the second guard could see his crimson fur.

The second guard drew his weapon, but Ruby held out her hand.

"Gallahad made the first move. Varwaz had every right to defend himself." Ruby turned to face Gallahad. "And to think my father suggested that I marry you. I'll do no such thing. You attack my guests because you feel threatened by them. I'll be sure to tell my father of these actions and see to it that you do not remain a knight for long."

Ruby walked off with Hellstorm at her side leaving a very angry Gallahad to plot his revenge.

xXx

The rest of the day passed without fault. Ruby started packing early once she got wind of Prince Kassad's plans to leave early.

On the dawn of the third day after Hellstorm had finished the tournament, Prince Kassad was ready to leave.

The large carriage stood ready to take Hellstorm, Ruby, Akara, Victor, and Justin back to Sectoria with their special guest Empire Kassad. Hector had said that he would meet Hellstorm and Ruby at the manor in two weeks time, as they would rather walk.

The trip proved to back to Sectoria proved just as quite as the trip to the castle. Hellstorm had very little to say, but Kassad and Ruby had talked about many things. After five days of traveling, the group arrived back in Sectoria. The carriage was a welcome sight to the town guards as they cleared the gate for the carriage to get through. It did not take much longer after that for them to reach the manor. Hellstorm followed the King's commands and served as the Emperor's body guard as he went to visit Eric Welthlight. Kassad handed Eric a drawing of a sword he had with him and after leaving a large sum of gold, he set off for the docks. Hellstorm was finally relieved of his duty and returned to the manor.

--

As night came down, Ruby had an idea.

"Hellstorm, I would like take you out to the local tavern. I know how much and how hard you have worked to get here. I propose that tonight we take it easy and celebrate how far you have come." Ruby had already gotten dressed wearing a dress similar to the one she had worn to greet her parents, only this one was not as fancy. She wore a green pirate style dress.

"I do not see the point in such things, but if you wish, then I shall go." Hellstorm did not get the idea about celebrating before a job was done as in his time, one rarely ever celebrated anything other then the birth of pack member.

"I must say, this is not what I'm used to. It is very comfortable though." Akara walked in with a dress similar to Ruby's.

"I think a day of fun will do us all good." Ruby told Hellstorm as they headed back down to the Trade City.

Victor accompanied them as they walked to the local tavern, which seemed to be full tonight as what appeared to be gang of pirates had docked for a days rest. All the locals recognized Ruby instantly and a table in the far corner was quickly vacated. Many people waved at Ruby as she made her way to the table with her guests. Not even a few seconds after they took a seat, a waitress had come to serve them.

"I assume you'll be wanted you're usual, Ruby?" the young lady asked.

"That would be nice. I'll be paying for my parties' drinks tonight as well." Ruby said as she took a seat on of the five stools that surrounded the table.

"Very well. What would the lot of you like tonight?" The waitress passed out a list of drinks for them to choose from. "I recommend the Evermoon Brew if you looking for a sweet drink without much of kick and I'd recommend the Dragon's Eye Ale if you're looking for something strong."

"I'll try the Dragon's Eye Ale please." Akara said as she took a seat.

"I'll go with Evermoon." Hellstorm said.

"Oh. You've taught another one to speak have you? How many more have you picked up?" the waitress asked.

"Varwaz learned from another and is my new body guard." Ruby informed the waitress.

"I'll take my usual." Victor said in his plain as always voice.

"I'll be back in a few with your drinks." The waitress turned and walked off returning shortly after.

"Here we are. One Evermoon for the Lucario. A Dragon's Eye for the lovely lady. A bottle of Western Golden for the man. Finally, I have a Winter's Grasp Wine for the princess." The waitress turned again to leave.

"Tonight, we celebrate you're hard work in obtaining another of the Elemental Orbs." Ruby stated as the drinks came out. She raised her glass to Hellstorm and the others joined in except Hellstorm who let merely held his drink on the table.

Victor and Akara offered their praise in their own way. Victor bowed his head raising his glass high while Akara wished for the best of luck. All of them took a drink of their selected brands.

It took a while, but after a cup and half of Evermoon, Hellstorm had loosened up some and was actually smiling as the topic of talk changed and continued to shift from one thing to another. They lot of them talked about many things including, but not limited to family, friends, current events, and past achievements. Hellstorm was still careful not to say too much about himself, but was certainly more open then he was before.

Time went on as Ruby had ordered a fourth round of drinks for the rest of her party while she began to drink her third. Out of them, the only one who was truly intoxicated at this time was Akara. She decided that this drink was her last as she finished it. Hellstorm was beginning to laugh a little when Akara had decided to head back to the manor while there was still light out.

An hour later, Ruby had decided that it was time to go she had second where she stumbled from getting, but it passed quickly. Victor showed no signs that he had been drinking at all as he got up and walked over to the counter counting out some coins as he walked over to the bartender.

Hellstorm walked beside Ruby as they made their way to exit passing a table of pirates. The caption, a large well-built man and had a long beard got up and blocked her path some. "Such a lovely young lass we have here." He took off his hat and set his down next to him on the table.

"Ah, she is a keeper caption." One of his crewmen sounded as she stood in front of them.

"May I get through here please?" Ruby asked as she went to side step him.

"Might I know the name of the lovely lady who has caught me eye?" He asked.

"I am Ruby." Ruby told him holding a hand over her chest as her greeting.

"Might I offer ya to spend the night on me ship. I promise ya a time like no other." He suggested.

"I'm afraid not. I have some things to do at my manor." Ruby quickly lied to him.

"Maybe you didn't catch my drift. That wasn't a question, sweet cheeks." The caption reached out grab Ruby.

Everyone in the bar either looked away or kept their eyes peeled for was coming. All of the locals knew that Ruby was one who could take care of herself and was never to be called by such rude names much less try to grab her. They knew that she would teach people some manners if she had had a few drinks. Of course, no one had bothered to tell the pirates this.

Ruby surprised Hellstorm and the pirates by grabbing hold of the caption's wrist and pulling him down. She hopped over his shoulder and bent his arm backwards. "That's no way to talk to a princess." Ruby said as she made him kneel down. He went for his sword, but Ruby twisted his arm back and kicked him to the floor. The rest of his crew went to get up until Victor stood in the way, holding a rather large mace in his hand. The pirates saw how big he was and quickly returned to their seats as Ruby began to walk out of the room.

Hellstorm could hear some more rather rude comments from the caption and chanted a quick spell. The small barrel of wine that was resting on a shelf high up on the wall began to shift some and finally toppled onto the caption as he took his seat who then began to shout. Ruby turned to see what had happened. The caption threw the barrel off of his head as he quickly made for the second door to the tavern that lead towards the docks.

Once out of the tavern, Ruby looked to Hellstorm. "Did you do that?"

Hellstorm jus shrugged a bit pointing his head off away from Ruby a bit. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, I guess you do have a slight sense of humor. Although it would have been better if you hadn't spilled my favorite drink on them." Ruby laughed some as Hellstorm shrugged again.

Once they group of now three went to turn on the road that lead up to Ruby's manor, they were attacked.

A single arrow flew past Hellstorm's head as he stopped dead. He turned just in time to see a large scythe weapon coming for him. An image of the demon that had slain Hellstorm's pack flashed into his head striking him with a sudden surge of fear. Victor had intercepted the attack with the mace he had.

In a instant he saw the terrible images of his clan being slaughtered play out once again before him. As he one true friend and love being cut down before his eyes. Suddenly the fear was replaced with anger. "You killed my pack. Now I'm going to slaughter you the same way dealt with the others. Demon Art: Severed Soul." Hellstorm aura flared up as the light blue phantom image of Hellstorm flew from his body.

"So I have found you at last little pup. My arrow left its mark last time merely taking your blood. This time, it shall be your life." The demon before them wielded a dark scythe in one hand and a demonic bow in the other. It's empty eyes glared at Hellstorm. Standing well over six feet, the demon dwarfed him as he moved in for his attack. Unrestricted by any rules or morals, Hellstorm charged in fast as a powerful flame erupted from his hands. The flaming fists spell he had cast was far more powerful then it should have been, but with the Fire Orb in his possession, all of his fire based magics would be far more powerful.

Hellstorm thrust his arm clean through the demon's chest, a rage unlike any other he had felt before led his attack.

"What is this? How are you so strong?" The demon jumped back the large hole in his chest let out a large stream of black blood.

"You helped that thing slay my pack. I'll send your soul to the deepest pits of hell." Hellstorm shouted. It was lucky that Ruby's manor was as far away from the town as it was or someone was bound to pick up on the battle.

Hellstorm charged in fast, his fur the deepest shade of crimson it had ever been. The demon brought down his scythe only to see how powerful Hellstorm's rage had become. His burning fist plowed throw the handle of the weapon sparks flew everywhere. Grabbing the now severed blade, Hellstorm spun around to gather the force he needed. The severed scythe blade cleaved right thrown the demon's left arm dropping the bow to the ground.

"What manner of creature are you?" The demon turned to flee holding the stump of arm. Hellstorm looked over the broken weapon he held and threw it hard. The blade curved and removed both of the legs the demon ran on sending it flying to the ground. Hellstorm walked over to the helpless demon. His aura burned like blood and even burned the demon as Hellstorm put a foot on his chest to hold him down.

"Be sure to reserve a spot in hell for you leader. I'll be sending him to join to you as fast as I can." Hellstorm's aura gathered into his hand.

"I'll be sure to tell that vampire bitch of yours what you've become, you monster." The demon shouted, as it knew its time was up. Theses had an unexpected result on Hellstorm. The same phantom image of Hellstorm that had flown out of Hellstorm was quickly forced back into him. His blood red aura that blazed around him calmed to light blue and seemed to act more as mist then fire.

"Sora." Hellstorm stepped back some. The demon saw a chance to kill Hellstorm with his back turned and drew a knife. It never got a chance to attack though as Victor brought his mace down hard on its head upon seeing it draw the dagger.

Darkness rose up out of the ground and wrapped around the demon pulling it and its weapons into whatever awaited it on the other side. The only clues of the demon being slaughtered where it was were the bloodstains that littered the area.

"Hellstorm, are you alright?" Ruby charged over to him.

"What have I become?" Hellstorm looked at his hands as the last flames from his burning fists spell died off. The demon's blood still clung to the to his fur. Memories of Sora filled his head. She had often said that she liked him for his kindness ,his helpfulness. She had liked him for his lack of killing.

"Hellstorm?" Ruby walked over to him seeing the look of confusion, sadness, and other mixed emotions on his face. Hellstorm slowly sunk to the ground. What if the demon was right and he had become a monster.

Ruby helped Hellstorm up and walked him back to her manor.


	9. A Night of Doubt

Legend of the Crimson Lucario

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:  
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.  
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.  
'Poketalk'  
(Character Thoughts)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

Beta reader: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 9: A Night of Doubt

Ruby helped Hellstorm back to manor as Victor took extra care to make sure they were not followed. Once inside, Hellstorm seemed to slightly come back to his senses and supported himself.

"Ruby, what happened?" Anna walked up see Hellstorm who was lost in his thoughts.

"Have the others returned yet?" Ruby asked. She had given most of her staff a few weeks off when she left for the castle thinking that she was going to be staying at the castle a while longer.

"Not yet, it's still just me, Heather, and Joey at the moment. Akara has chosen to head to bed early tonight. The others should be back in two days time. Now, what has happened?" The small Kirlia was impatient to find out what had happened.

"We were attacked by a demon. Apparently, something it said got to Hellstorm." Victor looked at Hellstorm who had moved. He took a seat on the couch staring down at the floor.

"Hellstorm, are you alright?" Ruby asked taking a seat beside him.

"That demon had a point." Hellstorm told her without even looking at her.

"Come on; let's head to the bed rooms. You haven't slept in two days. I think some rest will do you good." Ruby whispered something to Anna before she made her way down the halls beside Hellstorm.

Ruby opened the large double doors to Hellstorm's guest quarters. The room had been redone slightly since the assassin attacked, but it looked good as new now. Hellstorm took a seat on the bed with Ruby beside him.

"I look back at the time I've spent here and the more I think about it, the worse it looks." Hellstorm leaned back closing his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Ruby was starting to get concerned. Something that demon had said to Hellstorm seemed to effect him on some very deep levels.

"I'm becoming a monster, no better then they are." Hellstorm told her.

"You're nothing like the demons that attacked your pack." Ruby quickly replied.

"You saw what I did to that demon. I was ready to tear him limb from limb. I enjoyed watching him suffer as he made my pack suffer. I used to hate the thought of combat. Now, I enjoy it. With that kind of mind, what do think will happen once I make back to my time with the power of the elemental orbs behind me?" Hellstorm shot up and looked her in the eye for second before turning away. "I'm going to wash this blood off before it stains my fur. I'd do the same if I were you before that blood stains your hands." Hellstorm got up and made his way to the door that leads to the private bathing area. Ruby looked at hands and saw that she did a small amount of demon's blood on her hands and some on her dress from helping Hellstorm back to the manor.

She got up and followed Hellstorm.

Once in the room, Hellstorm chanted a spell to light one of the torches by the water and then quickly discarded his shorts. He set them down in a small basin of water to soak so that blood wouldn't set in. He wasted no time in getting into the water resting back against the side of the pool that was the tub.

Ruby took a little longer to get undressed, as she had to remove the dress and her undergarments before she could get in.

The full moon was high in the sky and just barely visible through out the windows high up on the wall. Ruby could see Hellstorm staring straight at it.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"Sora once told me that vampires pick their mates under the light of the full moon." Hellstorm replied. "She would have turned seventeen tonight if I was still in my time."

"You must miss her." Ruby scooted over closer to Hellstorm, the looked of mixed emotions that had once painted his face seemed to have finally faded to be replaced with a look of deep sadness.

"She was the only one who accepted me as a whole. She didn't accept me for my powers to defend the pack or shun me for dark gifts. She accepted me as me." Hellstorm told her. "She always reminded of who I was. I owe her my life several times over."

"She meant a lot to you." Ruby put an arm around Hellstorm as his head dropped.

The two of them sat there for a while. Ruby felt it was best to stay but remained quiet to left Hellstorm think in peace.

Ruby stayed there with Hellstorm for a while as the moon rose higher into the night sky. Hellstorm's ears shot up homing in on a strange sound. Chanting a spell, he looked toward the windows. Bearing his fangs, he jumped straight toward them. In mid air, he swung his left leg out at some unseen object. Once Hellstorm's foot connected with whatever it was, it flew into a corner of the room. A man wearing black leather armor climbed up out of plants that had lined the room, a black mist coming off of his feet.

Hellstorm landed hard in front of the man. He raised his paw charging an Aura Sphere while Ruby quickly grabbed a towel to cover herself before getting out of the water.

"Who are you?" Ruby walked over to Hellstorm in the wet towel.

"Hold it. I've been ordered to come here by the Hunter of the Winds." The man stood up, the black mist would randomly flow over his body.

"That man tried to assassinate me. If you work for him, why shouldn't I kill you?" Hellstorm demanded, his fur already turning red.

"I may be an assassin but I've not come here to kill you today." The man drew a knife from his belt slowly making sure that Hellstorm could see the action. "I only come bearing a message. It needs your blood to activate the spell on it."

"How do I know this isn't some trick?" Hellstorm shouted.

"Because my master wishes to kill you himself. He owes you for the scar you gave him." The man said as he held the knife out. "However, I was ordered to make sure you got the message." The man charged forward and made a shallow cut on Hellstorm's arm, just large enough to spill the slightest amount of blood onto the knife. Hellstorm launched a counter attack sending a fireball into the man's arm. The resulting blast sent him flying across the room holding a badly burnt arm. The knife began to glow.

Hellstorm charged over to the man a large Aura Sphere growing in his paw. A look of rage filled his eyes only to be replaced by something else before he could fire the attack.

Hellstorm's crimson fur went blue again. "Leave now if you value your life." The man didn't waste anytime jumping up in a large cloud of black smoke that flew out the window.

"Huh? Why did you let him go like that?" Ruby asked.

Hellstorm held up his arm to show the small cut the man had made. "He didn't try to kill me. Besides, Sora would have given him a chance to run." Hellstorm picked up his shorts and set them on one of the benches to dry. He took a towel and dried himself off leaving the knife to glow. Once he dried himself off, he wrapped his shorts up in the towel and went over to the knife.

Ruby traded her wet towel for a dry one and began to dry herself off. Hellstorm touched the knife and it floated up into the air. A phantom image of the Hunter of Winds appeared.

"I see you got my message and still happen to be alive. That's good, although I hope my messenger made a mark to remember him by. I challenge you to duel five days after the next full moon at the old temple a little to the south east of Sectoria. I believe you've been there once. I'd meet you sooner, but I have some loose ends to tie up first. Oh and to ensure that you show up, I'll send my entire clan of assassins to raid the town if you're there by dawn the next day. If you're even half the hero the stories say you are, then I'll be waiting for you under the stars that night." The ghostly voice vanished as the knife fell to the ground.

"I'd hardly call a trap like that a duel." Ruby said as the knife fell the ground. She was now wearing a light red robe.

"I've no choice but to go." Hellstorm said as he removed his shorts from the towel he had wrapped them in and then put them on.

Hellstorm returned to his room and looked at the teapot full of now cold tea. He walked over placed a hand on the side of the teapot. A single word seemed to boil the water in the teapot as steam once again rose from the top of it. Hellstorm picked it up and poured himself a cup before returning to the tray it was on. He walked back over to the bed sipping the tea as he went. Ruby came out a few seconds later to see Hellstorm sitting on the bed with the same look of sadness he had before the assassin delivered the message.

"I'm going to sleep. I'll see you when I wake tomorrow." Hellstorm walked over to where the tray for the tea was and placed his cup on it before chanting a quick spell to douse the fire the some leaving a few large embers to burn. The only real light came form a lamp on the dresser.

"I'll just sit here with you for a while then." Ruby said as Hellstorm sat against the headboard to the bed closing his eyes.

"That is your choice." Hellstorm took a deep breath to try and clear his head as Ruby scooted over next to him.

As Hellstorm had been up since yesterday morning, he quickly drifted off to sleep with Ruby sitting there next to him. A short while after he had fallen asleep, he shifted just a bit and leaned over in the process, he head landing on Ruby's lap. He shifted his body just a bit moving on to his side before he finally found a comfortable position. Ruby sat there with a smile on her face. There was much more to Hellstorm then the stories had said and she was glad that he had decided to show her this side.

Rather then leave, Ruby fell asleep with Hellstorm's head on her lap.

xXx

Early the next day…

The sunlight finally covered the entire city of Sectoria. A man walked up to the manor wearing the robes of preacher. He stopped at the door and knocked before the looking around. The door opened a minute later and Anna looked outside.

"Greetings Father Luis. How may I help you?" The Kirlia curtsied as she greeted the preacher.

"I come to see Princess Ruby. I've some news for her. Is she up yet?" The preacher asked.

"Yes, she should be. I haven't gone down to her room yet though. I was in the middle of making breakfast." Anna told his as he entered.

"Very well. I'll go to see if she has woken up yet." The preacher started down the halls while Anna returned to kitchen. The preacher stopped outside the two sets of double doors looking back and forth between them.

"I do believe this is her room." The preacher knocked on the door on his left side.

Ruby was still sleeping, but upon hearing the knocking at the door, she woke. Hellstorm was still sleeping peacefully his head upon her lap. "Enter." Ruby said loud enough for the person to hear her not knowing who it could be.

"Ah, good. Princess Ruby…" The preacher walked in and saw Hellstorm's head on Ruby's lap sleeping soundly. "I do hope that this is just one big misunderstanding." The preacher had a seriousness look of anger upon his face.

"I can assure that nothing has happened. We were attack last night by a demon." Ruby got up slowly.

"I'll take your word on the matter, but let me remind you that the church will not put up with a human who shares a relationship with a beast on level higher then friends." The preacher said with a strong look of anger on his face. "Do not let me hear of another event like this or it will be your father who will talk with you."

"I knew very well the rules of the church, father. Now then, if you have something to say please say it." Ruby did her best to keep herself in check as she slowly got up.

"I've come to tell you that church appears to be in need of a few repairs. I was hoping that you could get some carpenters down here to fix the roof before things get worse. Now then, I'll take my leave. Do not forget what I have said." The preacher turned and left closing the door as he along.

Ruby headed to her room to change before heading down to her study.

--

Hellstorm awoke a while later; sun light was cast brightly through the windows in the room. He wore a similar look of sadness on his face as the night before, but not as strong. He rose and looked upon his room looking everything over. The night of rest had done him good as did his dream. In his dream he was sitting on the edge of the plateau that he had once called his home. There beside him was Sora. They talked about a great many things all night under a full moon. What separated this dream from others was that Sora in the dream was not a sub-conscious copy of someone, but the real thing.

About a year before the demons attacked Hellstorm's pack, Sora had cast a spell upon Hellstorm's wrist spikes. This spell would allow Hellstorm to talk with a spiritual version of Sora in his dreams whenever he truly needed to talk with someone and there was no one around for him to talk to. Sora knew that she would not always be there to help him, as she would always go off with the hunting parties whenever the Sandworms had returned. It was their blood after all that kept her alive and she went to ensure that she would have a supply of blood on hand to feed off of rather then feed off the pack. These dreams played a major part in Hellstorm's survival when he first landed in the time he was in. If not for the spiritual Sora to talk with at times, he would have given up long ago.

Hellstorm talked with Sora all night on the plateau under a full moon. They talked about a great many things. They talked about Hellstorm's past and the times they had shared. They talked about what would happen once Hellstorm had collected the elemental orbs. They had even talked about Hellstorm and how he had changed.

Hellstorm clearly remembered the talk with Sora in the dream as he started to move. He stretched a bit before leaving the room. He headed for the den searching for Ruby. After searching the living area, he heard voices down the hall coming from Ruby's study.

Hellstorm knocked on the door and entered upon hearing giving him the okay to come in. Hellstorm opened the door to find Ruby talking with two people. The first a man in his early twenties, he had a light beard like it was only just starting to grow. His brown short hair was well combed and he had a basic set of work clothes. The girl beside him had the same hair as him, only much longer and wore similar clothing. She looked to be in her mid to late teens.

"Hellstorm, this is Eric and his sister Amy. I do believe I've mentioned them before." Ruby held you her toward her guest.

"Yes, you stated that Eric was the carpenter in charge of keeping your manor in good shape. You also said that he was a craftsman. Amy is his little sister." Hellstorm said. "I assume that Ruby has said a lot about me if she has told my real name."

"Yes, she has. I still find it hard to believe that you are the famed Hellstorm though. Then again, looks can be deceiving." Eric bowed his head, his arm over his waist.

"Are you really Hellstorm?" Amy asked not too sure about the matter.

"Amy, I would take Ruby's word on most matters. I've done some studying of the books Ruby has here and I would have to say that those Crimson spikes of his are proof enough to call him a Crimson Lord. No, that's not right. What did you call them?" Eric turned toward Ruby.

"Crimson Warriors." Ruby informed Eric. "And yes, Hellstorm is very much the one of that the stories tell of."

"I come to tell that I'll be walking around the town for a while. I just need some more time to think things over." Hellstorm said as he went to leave.

"Wait up. I've got something for you." Eric got up and ran over to Hellstorm with a very thin metal bar in one hand. "This collar will mark you as Ruby's new servant and should negate any problems with the town folk."

"That is no collar." Hellstorm pointed to the metal bar.

"I needed you here so I could craft it to the right size. Would you like around your neck or on your wrist?"

"A collar will do just fine around my neck." Hellstorm said.

"Just lift up your head and hold still for a second." Eric placed the metal bar on Hellstorm's neck and gently bent it back. Magic kept the bar from touching is neck as Eric rolled it around. Finally, the bar began to overlap onto itself. Eric chanted a spell to break off the excess metal and then chanted a second spell to fuse the metal together. "It's sealed by command word. Just say, Ketjo." The bar went from a collar back to the bar it once was, only a bit shorter. "Say it again while holding it near your neck and it becomes a collar again. The runes on the outside of the collar will mark you as one of Ruby's servants." Eric explained as he took a seat.

Hellstorm held the bar by his neck. "Ketjo." The bar returned to its collar form with a set of runes on it. "I thank you for concern. Now I won't have to use any magic to keep a human body." Hellstorm bowed in thanks.

"Akara went to go do some shopping. I've already informed her to keep using the name Varwaz for a while when talking with you."

"I'll see you when I return." Hellstorm headed for the main door and down the hill. He mostly just wandered about. A few people gave him looks as he passed, but no one seemed to get in his way upon seeing the collar he wore.

He passed through the market area just looking around. Not one merchant seemed to show any interest in him and he was glad for this. He hadn't even gone a block into the city when he a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Varwaz, how are you?" Hellstorm turned to see Akara there beside him.

"I am fine for now, Akara." Hellstorm told her as she looked at his collar.

"It looks nice on you." Akara said as she rubbed her hand on it.

"Eric, the craftsman Ruby has hired constructed it." Hellstorm looked off to the side finding a stand that sold fruit. Hellstorm went to reach for his moneybag only to realize that he had no such thing on him.

Akara saw him looking at the fruit. "I'll pay for it. Ruby gave me a small sum to spend." Akara told Hellstorm.

"You have me thanks." Hellstorm walked to the cart and picked up a nice large ripe pear. The vendor turned to see Hellstorm holding his fruit.

"Hey, put that down. I'll not have you taking my fruit." The vendor raised his voice.

"I'm paying for it." Akara pulled out the small moneybag Ruby had given to her.

"Oh, my mistake. I didn't see your collar. The two of you must be guest of the princess." The vendor calmed down as Akara handed the vendor a few copper coins.

"I am Ruby's new guard. I've come to check out the town and learn where everything is." Hellstorm said before taking a bite out of the pear.

"I'm just a guest for the time being. Well, we'll be on our way." Akara said as she walked beside Hellstorm. "Hellstorm, is there anything you want go looking for right now. I've already walked around the town once today."

"I'm just looking for a place to walk around. I'll meet up with you later by the tavern." Hellstorm said as he walked on.

"I'll meet you there in a while then." Akara returned back toward the market area while Hellstorm headed to western end of the city.

After a short while of walking, Hellstorm found himself walking past the church of the town. It was a large building that was mostly empty today. The preacher, Father Luis walked down the path with a bible in hand. He saw Hellstorm and turned away in disgust. "Such a foul creature."

"Excuse me?" Hellstorm stopped to look at him.

"I saw you sleeping upon Ruby's lap this morning. Do not think that I do not know what you really wanted from her." His voice was raised.

"I can assure that I fell asleep against the head board of that bed. She choose to stay there and make sure that I was going to be alright until I was go drift off to sleep. If she stayed any longer then that, I know nothing of it." Hellstorm said.

"You are a liar. The two of you were asleep next to each other. I wouldn't have thought as much of it had I caught this in one of her lesser rooms, but to find the two of you in one of the grand bedrooms." The preacher spoke to Hellstorm with utter disgust in his voice.

"She offered that room as thanks. I've already killed two demons in this area." Hellstorm hated how closed minded the people were in this time.

"You killed two demons. Ha, how many demon hunters were there with you?" The preacher grew angry by Hellstorm's claims.

"I killed the first one by myself. The second one was finished off by Victor." Hellstorm said as he moved in closer.

"Lies. One of your kind could do nothing of the sort." The preacher grew even angrier.

"I was trained by Hellstorm himself. Do not doubt my abilities because of what I am." Hellstorm now raised his own voice.

"More lies. Hellstorm is grand hero who travels alone. He has no need for others." The preacher was about to take his book and slap Hellstorm with it when a man pushed the two of them a part as he ran by. A woman charged behind the man.

"Thief, thief." The woman shouted as she ran.

Hellstorm looked on and took off to catch up to the thief. He quickly caught up to him and jumped onto his back grabbing the back of the thief's hood. As he used the thief's back as spring board, Hellstorm jumped up sending the thief to the ground landing in front of the thief as he stopped sliding to the ground. He picked up the purse he had as the woman caught to him.

"Here you madam." Hellstorm handed the woman back her purse only to have her hit him with it.

"You worthless creature. I don't care if you do work for the princess. I'll not have you touch my things." The woman shouted at him.

"I don't have to take this." Hellstorm shouted as he walked off. "Worthless humans. They show no respect for what I do for them."

Hellstorm walked towards the nearest city gate. The guard went to go block his passage.

"I wish to explore the grounds around the city." Hellstorm said as approached the gate.

"Hold your tongue." The guard snorted. "Who left you to wander alone?"

"I am one of Ruby's servants. Just let me pass." Hellstorm drew closer to the gate.

"Alright, but you'd better show some more respect." The guard moved aside to let Hellstorm pass.

xXx

Hellstorm headed deep into the forest around the Trade City. He thought it best to blow off some steam out here where he was alone rather then in town. His fur went red as he threw his fist into a tree. The tree splintered under the force of the attack.

--

The winds blew lightly across the desert plateau. The only light came from the full moon, which was very close tonight. Two figures walked to the edge of the plateau in the moonlight.

Hellstorm walked along slowly with Sora on his right side. She wore the same demonic dress she had met Hellstorm in. She was about eight inches taller then Hellstorm. Her skin pale during the day, but in the moonlight it radiated with a unique glow. Both took a seat on the edge of the cliff before them.

--

Hellstorm threw his left foot out into the side of another tree creating a sizable dent in the trunk. His eyes were just as red as his fur. All thoughts of the words told to him that day echo through his ears.

--

"It's such a nice night tonight." Sora smiled, the points of her fangs sparkled in the silver light of the moon as her blood red eyes looked up. "Its night's like this that I enjoy the most."

"I wish it were real though. There is so much I miss from our time." Hellstorm looked up at the moon, then at Sora. Her smile brought a smile to his face as well.

"You'll get back here one day." Sora scooted over closer to him wrapping a comforting arm around Hellstorm.

"I know, but one of the demons made through time. It attacked me last night just after the sun had set." Hellstorm told Sora resting his head against her.

"If you're still alive, then you must have dealt with it." Sora had a slight look of concern on her face.

"It called me a monster. I now question if it was right." Hellstorm informed Sora.

--

Hellstorm charged into another tree, the trunk cracked as the tree began to lean over some from the shoulder slam it had suffered. The words "You worthless creature" ring through the air with the beating of the tree.

--

"You're no monster." Sora shook her head. "You just not like everyone else. You've always been different."

"I felt joy from attacking him." Hellstorm admitted to his only true friend.

"No, Hellstorm. It was your anger that felt the joy." Sora corrected him. "You mustn't let your anger control your actions."

"You speak the truth." Hellstorm looked behind them and chanted a quick spell to start a fire to warm them in the cool night air.

--

Hellstorm's anger lessened the more he recalled his dream, but he still continued to attack the trees around him.

--

"Hellstorm, you were never a monster. You were my angel. You were a hero to me and will become one to many more. It was not a life you wanted, but it is your life." Sora explained. "You may be called a monster by many, but you are far from it. People of this time just don't understand things like we do know them, but let's not talk about that right now. You need to clear your mind and relax." Sora's voice stayed calm and kind no matter what she discussed.

"Of course. I did come here to relax." Hellstorm looked back at her face. Her gentle eyes brought peace to Hellstorm's troubled mind. "Tell me, if you were still alive, what you want for your birthday."

"Tonight, I would have turned seventeen. Such a lovely night to celebrate." Sora looked to sky and to countless stars in the sky.

"Tonight would have been a perfect night to celebrate." Hellstorm couldn't agree more.

--

Hellstorm's red aura died down as he managed to knock over the tree he had been attacking. He jumped up and took a seat on the fallen tree looking to skies.

--

"There is not much I can ask for. I already have almost everything I could want." Sora looked to Hellstorm and kissed him on his neck.

"If you want a drink, then you may." Hellstorm tilted his head to side exposing his neck. There was already a pair of small scars from where Sora's fangs had entered his neck a few times before.

"No, not tonight." Sora said as she tilted his head back toward her. "Tonight, I just want to spend my time with you."

"All you must do is ask if you grow thirsty." Hellstorm said.

--

Hellstorm ran his hand over the side of his neck. In a strange way, he missed the feel of Sora's fangs in his neck. He missed everything about her. A tear wells up in his eyes as he looks down to continue recalling the dream.

--

They two of them sat there all night talking and talking. Hellstorm didn't hold himself back and spoke his mind with Sora. The talked about everything he could think of. The two of them watched as the sun rose. Sora worried not as in time where Hellstorm had come from, vampires had long since out grown their weakness to the sun.

The two sat peacefully in the morning. Sora got with Hellstorm at her side. They walked back to the center of the plateau.

"You never told what kind of gift you want." Hellstorm said as he let Sora walk back toward the caves.

"Hmm. I want a silver necklace with a Crimson gemstone. Something to match your eyes and fur. And I want you to hang onto it." Sora said as she faded away like a ghost.

"I'll do my best to find one." Hellstorm said as he watched Sora fade away.

He closed his eyes as the dream ended and he remembered waking up.

--

Hellstorm looked on at the sky. It was slowly growing dark. He hurried back to gates where the same guard as before greeted him.

"May I enter back into the city?" Hellstorm asked as the guard blocked his path.

"That was better. Now go on hurry up. I'll be closing this gate soon." The guard said as Hellstorm walked past.

As Hellstorm walked back to tavern, he kept his eyes open to every jewelry tray he could see. He arrived to see Akara there waiting for him by the tavern door.

"Akara, can you do me a favor?" Hellstorm asked as he came close.

"What is it?" Akara asked.

"I need you to buy a necklace I saw. I've a promise I need to keep." Hellstorm explained. "I'll tell you about it once we get back to manor."

"Fair enough. Lead the way." Akara nodded her head.

Hellstorm lead her back to a small stand and pointed out the silver necklace he had seen while walking to the tavern.

"Excuse me sir. How much for this silver necklace?" Akara asked as she pointed to necklace that Hellstorm had shown her.

"What? A lady like you deserves much better." The man pointed to a set of golden amulets with large emeralds in them trying to make a better sale.

"I just want this one." Akara told the man.

"Are you sure? The gems on that one are low and poor. Now these are much better." The man was persistent to say the least.

"I've already made my choice. It's to keep a promise I made." Akara explained.

"Oh very well. Its eighty-one silver coins for that one." The man said as he picked up the necklace.

Akara dropped the moneybag by mistake and Hellstorm picked up a gold coin.

"Just give him a gold coin for it. It means far more to me then you think" Hellstorm whispered after seeing how few silver coins were in the bag.

"Here, keep the extra." Akara handed him the coin and man looked on in surprise.

"A gold coin. Thank you very much." The man bowed and handed Akara the necklace who handed it to Hellstorm. Hellstorm wrapped in around his wrist a few times making sure that he wouldn't lose it as they two of them headed back to the manor.

Just like Hellstorm had said he would, he explained his reasons for the necklace to Akara as they walked up the hill.

Hellstorm opened the door and met with Eric and his sister Amy as they were leaving.

"We shall talk to some other time. For now, we must return to home." Eric bowed as he moved past Hellstorm. Amy gave him a quick hug as an apology for doubting him earlier. Ruby must have explained some things to them while he was exploring the town.

"Hellstorm, I hope you are feeling better." Ruby greeted both Hellstorm and Akara as they entered the house. "Anna is already working on a quick meal for dinner."

"Thank you. I feel much better." Hellstorm bowed his head as Ruby noticed the necklace.

"I would not have thought you would have jewelry." Ruby held up the hand that held the necklace.

"Sora requested a silver necklace with a Crimson gem stone. This was the best one I could find." Hellstorm told her. "Before you ask, let me explain." Hellstorm gave Ruby a slightly more in depth explanation that he had given Akara.

"I never knew such a spell was possible." Ruby exclaimed.

"While her body and soul may be gone, a portion of her spirit resides in me. In all senses of the phrase, she lives as a separate conscious in my dreams." Hellstorm explained removing his collar. For the first time, Ruby saw the two small puncture wounds on Hellstorm's neck.

"Hellstorm, what happened to your neck? I see a pair of small bite marks." Ruby asked out of concern.

"I've offered my blood to Sora on more then one occasion. These are the marks left behind to remind me of her." Hellstorm told her holding the side of his neck. "It is strange, but I even miss her fangs in my neck at times. Perhaps I am still the same caring person I have always been." Hellstorm smiled. "You have my thanks for reminding of them as you did." Hellstorm walked off towards the room he had been given to relax.


End file.
